diff --git a/diff.c b/diff.c
index 5e16082091..0276f25200 100644
--- a/diff.c
+++ b/diff.c
@@ -4942,6 +4942,9 @@ static void prep_parse_options(struct diff_options *options)
 		OPT_BIT_F(0, "check", &options->output_format,
 			  N_("warn if changes introduce conflict markers or whitespace errors"),
 			  DIFF_FORMAT_CHECKDIFF, PARSE_OPT_NONEG),
+		OPT_BIT_F(0, "summary", &options->output_format,
+			  N_("condensed summary such as creations, renames and mode changes"),
+			  DIFF_FORMAT_SUMMARY, PARSE_OPT_NONEG),
 		OPT_END()
 	};
 
@@ -4970,9 +4973,7 @@ int diff_opt_parse(struct diff_options *options,
 		return ac;
 
 	/* Output format options */
-	if (!strcmp(arg, "--summary"))
-		options->output_format |= DIFF_FORMAT_SUMMARY;
-	else if (!strcmp(arg, "--patch-with-stat")) {
+	if (!strcmp(arg, "--patch-with-stat")) {
 		enable_patch_output(&options->output_format);
 		options->output_format |= DIFF_FORMAT_DIFFSTAT;
 	} else if (!strcmp(arg, "--name-only"))