diff --git a/Doc/library/compileall.rst b/Doc/library/compileall.rst
index 0e79a5a..f805787 100644
--- a/Doc/library/compileall.rst
+++ b/Doc/library/compileall.rst
@@ -20,7 +20,8 @@
 
 .. program:: compileall
 
-.. cmdoption:: [directory|file]...
+.. cmdoption:: directory ...
+               file ...
 
    Positional arguments are files to compile or directories that contain
    source files, traversed recursively.  If no argument is given, behave as if