diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index fe39698..a5b93b5 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -86,6 +86,7 @@ export TLDR_CACHE_ENABLED=1
 export TLDR_CACHE_MAX_AGE=720
 export TLDR_PAGES_SOURCE_LOCATION="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/tldr-pages/tldr/main/pages"
 export TLDR_DOWNLOAD_CACHE_LOCATION="https://github.com/tldr-pages/tldr/releases/latest/download/tldr.zip"
+export TLDR_OPTIONS=short
 ```
 
 ### Cache
@@ -180,3 +181,7 @@ can either use the `--source` flag when using tldr or by specifying the followin
   - it can also point to a local directory using `file:///path/to/directory`.
 - `TLDR_DOWNLOAD_CACHE_LOCATION` to control where to pull a zip of all pages from.
   - defaults to `https://github.com/tldr-pages/tldr/releases/latest/download/tldr.zip`.
+
+### Command options
+
+Pages might contain `{{[*|*]}}` patterns to let the client decide whether to show shortform or longform versions of options. This can be configured with `TLDR_OPTIONS`, which accepts values `short`, `long` and `both`
diff --git a/tests/test_tldr.py b/tests/test_tldr.py
index 772735c..9fd713a 100644
--- a/tests/test_tldr.py
+++ b/tests/test_tldr.py
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ def test_whole_page(page_name, monkeypatch):
             sys.stdout = io.StringIO()
             sys.stdout.buffer = types.SimpleNamespace()
             sys.stdout.buffer.write = lambda x: sys.stdout.write(x.decode("utf-8"))
-            tldr.output(f_original)
+            tldr.output(f_original, "both")
 
             sys.stdout.seek(0)
             tldr_output = sys.stdout.read().encode("utf-8")
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ def test_markdown_mode(page_name):
         sys.stdout = io.StringIO()
         sys.stdout.buffer = types.SimpleNamespace()
         sys.stdout.buffer.write = lambda x: sys.stdout.write(x.decode("utf-8"))
-        tldr.output(d_original.splitlines(), plain=True)
+        tldr.output(d_original.splitlines(), "both", plain=True)
 
         sys.stdout.seek(0)
         tldr_output = sys.stdout.read().encode("utf-8")
diff --git a/tldr.py b/tldr.py
index 3749988..e4d2b28 100755
--- a/tldr.py
+++ b/tldr.py
@@ -415,7 +415,7 @@ def colors_of(key: str) -> Tuple[str, str, List[str]]:
     return (color, on_color, attrs)
 
 
-def output(page: str, plain: bool = False) -> None:
+def output(page: str, display_option_length: str, plain: bool = False) -> None:
     def emphasise_example(x: str) -> str:
         # Use ANSI escapes to enable italics at the start and disable at the end
         # Also use the color yellow to differentiate from the default green
@@ -478,6 +478,12 @@ def emphasise_example(x: str) -> str:
             line = line.replace(r'\{\{', '__ESCAPED_OPEN__')
             line = line.replace(r'\}\}', '__ESCAPED_CLOSE__')
 
+            # Extract long or short options from placeholders
+            if display_option_length == "short":
+                line = re.sub(r'{{\[([^|]+)\|[^|]+?\]}}', r'\1', line)
+            elif display_option_length == "long":
+                line = re.sub(r'{{\[[^|]+\|([^|]+?)\]}}', r'\1', line)
+
             elements = [' ' * 2 * LEADING_SPACES_NUM]
             for item in COMMAND_SPLIT_REGEX.split(line):
                 item, replaced = PARAM_REGEX.subn(
@@ -603,6 +609,16 @@ def create_parser() -> ArgumentParser:
                         action='store_true',
                         help='Just print the plain page file.')
 
+    parser.add_argument('--short-options',
+                        default=False,
+                        action="store_true",
+                        help='Display shortform options over longform')
+
+    parser.add_argument('--long-options',
+                        default=False,
+                        action="store_true",
+                        help='Display longform options over shortform')
+
     parser.add_argument(
         'command', type=str, nargs='*', help="command to lookup", metavar='command'
     ).complete = {"bash": "shtab_tldr_cmd_list", "zsh": "shtab_tldr_cmd_list"}
@@ -623,7 +639,20 @@ def main() -> None:
     parser = create_parser()
 
     options = parser.parse_args()
-
+    display_option_length = "long"
+    if not (options.short_options or options.long_options):
+        if os.environ.get('TLDR_OPTIONS') == "short":
+            display_option_length = "short"
+        elif os.environ.get('TLDR_OPTIONS') == "long":
+            display_option_length = "long"
+        elif os.environ.get('TLDR_OPTIONS') == "both":
+            display_option_length = "both"
+    if options.short_options:
+        display_option_length = "short"
+    if options.long_options:
+        display_option_length = "long"
+    if options.short_options and options.long_options:
+        display_option_length = "both"
     colorama.init(strip=options.color)
     if options.color is False:
         os.environ["FORCE_COLOR"] = "true"
@@ -642,6 +671,7 @@ def main() -> None:
             if file_path.exists():
                 with file_path.open(encoding='utf-8') as open_file:
                     output(open_file.read().encode('utf-8').splitlines(),
+                           display_option_length,
                            plain=options.markdown)
     elif options.search:
         search_term = options.search.lower()
@@ -675,7 +705,7 @@ def main() -> None:
                     " send a pull request to: https://github.com/tldr-pages/tldr"
                 ).format(cmd=command))
             else:
-                output(results[0][0], plain=options.markdown)
+                output(results[0][0], display_option_length, plain=options.markdown)
                 if results[1:]:
                     platforms_str = [result[1] for result in results[1:]]
                     are_multiple_platforms = len(platforms_str) > 1