diff --git a/HISTORY b/HISTORY
index 705b9083..4a7e8efc 100644
--- a/HISTORY
+++ b/HISTORY
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 4.1.0   2018-??-??
 		repmgr: add "--missing-slots" check to "repmgr node check" (Ian)
+        repmgr: improve command line error handling; GitHub #464 (Ian)
         repmgrd: create a PID file by default; GitHub #457 (Ian)
 		repmgrd: daemonize process by default; GitHub #458 (Ian)
 
diff --git a/configfile.c b/configfile.c
index 3690d053..c4a11289 100644
--- a/configfile.c
+++ b/configfile.c
@@ -1367,13 +1367,23 @@ exit_with_config_file_errors(ItemList *config_errors, ItemList *config_warnings,
 
 
 void
-exit_with_cli_errors(ItemList *error_list)
+exit_with_cli_errors(ItemList *error_list, const char *repmgr_command)
 {
 	fprintf(stderr, _("The following command line errors were encountered:\n"));
 
 	print_item_list(error_list);
 
-	fprintf(stderr, _("Try \"%s --help\" for more information.\n"), progname());
+	if (repmgr_command != NULL)
+	{
+		fprintf(stderr, _("Try \"%s --help\" or \"%s %s --help\" for more information.\n"),
+				progname(),
+				progname(),
+				repmgr_command);
+	}
+	else
+	{
+		fprintf(stderr, _("Try \"%s --help\" for more information.\n"), progname());
+	}
 
 	exit(ERR_BAD_CONFIG);
 }
diff --git a/configfile.h b/configfile.h
index f10eba12..1d729e4b 100644
--- a/configfile.h
+++ b/configfile.h
@@ -302,7 +302,7 @@ void free_parsed_argv(char ***argv_array);
 
 
 /* called by repmgr-client and repmgrd */
-void		exit_with_cli_errors(ItemList *error_list);
+void		exit_with_cli_errors(ItemList *error_list, const char *repmgr_command);
 void		print_item_list(ItemList *item_list);
 
 #endif							/* _REPMGR_CONFIGFILE_H_ */
diff --git a/doc/appendix-release-notes.sgml b/doc/appendix-release-notes.sgml
index fb9d5354..591fea39 100644
--- a/doc/appendix-release-notes.sgml
+++ b/doc/appendix-release-notes.sgml
@@ -38,6 +38,15 @@
       <para>
         <itemizedlist>
 
+          <listitem>
+            <para>
+              <application>repmgr</application>: always exit with an error if an unrecognised
+              command line option is provided. This matches the behaviour of other PostgreSQL
+              utilities such as <application>psql</application>. (GitHub #464).
+            </para>
+          </listitem>
+
+
           <listitem>
             <para>
               <application>repmgrd</application>: create a PID file by default
diff --git a/repmgr-client.c b/repmgr-client.c
index 4984b201..3bd82b64 100644
--- a/repmgr-client.c
+++ b/repmgr-client.c
@@ -98,7 +98,7 @@ main(int argc, char **argv)
 {
 	t_conninfo_param_list default_conninfo = T_CONNINFO_PARAM_LIST_INITIALIZER;
 
-	int			optindex;
+	int			optindex = 0;
 	int			c;
 
 	char	   *repmgr_command = NULL;
@@ -108,6 +108,7 @@ main(int argc, char **argv)
 	char	   *dummy_action = "";
 
 	bool		help_option = false;
+	bool		option_error_found = false;
 
 	set_progname(argv[0]);
 
@@ -178,6 +179,9 @@ main(int argc, char **argv)
 		strncpy(runtime_options.username, pw->pw_name, MAXLEN);
 	}
 
+	/* Make getopt emitting errors */
+	opterr = 1;
+
 	while ((c = getopt_long(argc, argv, "?Vb:f:FwWd:h:p:U:R:S:D:ck:L:tvC:", long_options,
 							&optindex)) != -1)
 	{
@@ -196,13 +200,7 @@ main(int argc, char **argv)
 			case OPT_HELP:		/* --help */
 				help_option = true;
 				break;
-			case '?':
-				/* Actual help option given */
-				if (strcmp(argv[optind - 1], "-?") == 0)
-				{
-					help_option = true;
-				}
-				break;
+
 			case 'V':
 
 				/*
@@ -631,9 +629,24 @@ main(int argc, char **argv)
 								 _("--recovery-min-apply-delay is now a configuration file parameter, \"recovery_min_apply_delay\""));
 				break;
 
+			case ':':   /* missing option argument */
+				option_error_found = true;
+				break;
+			case '?':
+				/* Actual help option given? */
+				if (strcmp(argv[optind - 1], "-?") == 0)
+				{
+					help_option = true;
+					break;
+				}
+				/* otherwise fall through to default */
+			default:    /* invalid option */
+				option_error_found = true;
+				break;
 		}
 	}
 
+
 	/*
 	 * If -d/--dbname appears to be a conninfo string, validate by attempting
 	 * to parse it (and if successful, store the parsed parameters)
@@ -734,9 +747,10 @@ main(int argc, char **argv)
 	if (cli_errors.head != NULL)
 	{
 		free_conninfo_params(&source_conninfo);
-		exit_with_cli_errors(&cli_errors);
+		exit_with_cli_errors(&cli_errors, NULL);
 	}
 
+
 	/*----------
 	 * Determine the node type and action; following are valid:
 	 *
@@ -983,9 +997,30 @@ main(int argc, char **argv)
 	if (cli_errors.head != NULL)
 	{
 		free_conninfo_params(&source_conninfo);
-		exit_with_cli_errors(&cli_errors);
+
+		exit_with_cli_errors(&cli_errors, valid_repmgr_command_found == true ? repmgr_command : NULL);
 	}
 
+	/* no errors detected by repmgr, but getopt might have */
+	if (option_error_found == true)
+	{
+		if (valid_repmgr_command_found == true)
+		{
+			printf(_("Try \"%s --help\" or \"%s %s --help\" for more information.\n"),
+				   progname(),
+				   progname(),
+				   repmgr_command);
+		}
+		else
+		{
+			printf(_("Try \"repmgr --help\" for more information.\n"));
+		}
+
+		free_conninfo_params(&source_conninfo);
+		exit(ERR_BAD_CONFIG);
+	}
+
+
 	/*
 	 * Print any warnings about inappropriate command line options, unless
 	 * -t/--terse set
diff --git a/repmgrd.c b/repmgrd.c
index dfad99f2..457dc916 100644
--- a/repmgrd.c
+++ b/repmgrd.c
@@ -237,7 +237,7 @@ main(int argc, char **argv)
 	/* Exit here already if errors in command line options found */
 	if (cli_errors.head != NULL)
 	{
-		exit_with_cli_errors(&cli_errors);
+		exit_with_cli_errors(&cli_errors, NULL);
 	}
 
 	startup_event_logged = false;