diff --git a/bin/linguist b/bin/linguist
index 18ea3431..17008fe0 100755
--- a/bin/linguist
+++ b/bin/linguist
@@ -1,13 +1,22 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env ruby
 
 # linguist — detect language type for a file, or, given a directory, determine language breakdown
-#     usage: linguist <path>
+#     usage: linguist <path> [<--breakdown>]
 
 require 'linguist/file_blob'
 require 'linguist/repository'
 
 path = ARGV[0] || Dir.pwd
 
+# special case if not given a directory but still given the --breakdown option
+if path == "--breakdown"
+  path = Dir.pwd
+  breakdown = true
+end
+
+ARGV.shift
+breakdown = true if ARGV[0] == "--breakdown"
+
 if File.directory?(path)
   repo = Linguist::Repository.from_directory(path)
   repo.languages.sort_by { |_, size| size }.reverse.each do |language, size|
@@ -15,10 +24,12 @@ if File.directory?(path)
     percentage = sprintf '%.2f' % percentage
     puts "%-7s %s" % ["#{percentage}%", language]
   end
-  puts
-  breakdown = repo.breakdown_by_file
-  breakdown.each do |lang, files|
-    puts "#{lang}: #{files}"
+  if breakdown
+    puts
+    breakdown = repo.breakdown_by_file
+    breakdown.each do |lang, files|
+      puts "#{lang}: #{files}"
+    end
   end
 elsif File.file?(path)
   blob = Linguist::FileBlob.new(path, Dir.pwd)