diff --git a/diff.c b/diff.c
index 5180c2f5a9..3f80e06de5 100644
--- a/diff.c
+++ b/diff.c
@@ -5297,6 +5297,8 @@ static void prep_parse_options(struct diff_options *options)
 			 N_("treat all files as text")),
 		OPT_BOOL('R', NULL, &options->flags.reverse_diff,
 			 N_("swap two inputs, reverse the diff")),
+		OPT_BOOL(0, "exit-code", &options->flags.exit_with_status,
+			 N_("exit with 1 if there were differences, 0 otherwise")),
 		{ OPTION_CALLBACK, 0, "output", options, N_("<file>"),
 		  N_("Output to a specific file"),
 		  PARSE_OPT_NONEG, NULL, 0, diff_opt_output },
@@ -5346,9 +5348,7 @@ int diff_opt_parse(struct diff_options *options,
 		if (cm & COLOR_MOVED_WS_ERROR)
 			return -1;
 		options->color_moved_ws_handling = cm;
-	} else if (!strcmp(arg, "--exit-code"))
-		options->flags.exit_with_status = 1;
-	else if (!strcmp(arg, "--quiet"))
+	} else if (!strcmp(arg, "--quiet"))
 		options->flags.quick = 1;
 	else if (!strcmp(arg, "--ext-diff"))
 		options->flags.allow_external = 1;