diff --git a/tools/perf/Documentation/perf-list.txt b/tools/perf/Documentation/perf-list.txt
index a126e97a81143b6492d0ad9ca7b8648a857cf492..72209bc0f52385c8a55b17f82ceb5d836fb2bcb5 100644
--- a/tools/perf/Documentation/perf-list.txt
+++ b/tools/perf/Documentation/perf-list.txt
@@ -8,13 +8,19 @@ perf-list - List all symbolic event types
 SYNOPSIS
 --------
 [verse]
-'perf list' [hw|sw|cache|tracepoint|pmu|event_glob]
+'perf list' [--no-desc] [hw|sw|cache|tracepoint|pmu|event_glob]
 
 DESCRIPTION
 -----------
 This command displays the symbolic event types which can be selected in the
 various perf commands with the -e option.
 
+OPTIONS
+-------
+--no-desc::
+Don't print descriptions.
+
+
 [[EVENT_MODIFIERS]]
 EVENT MODIFIERS
 ---------------
diff --git a/tools/perf/builtin-list.c b/tools/perf/builtin-list.c
index 88ee419e518925de5523fa08899e6935447630c3..b14cb162f841a8f92da5a89efc0806cd564709f1 100644
--- a/tools/perf/builtin-list.c
+++ b/tools/perf/builtin-list.c
@@ -16,16 +16,20 @@
 #include "util/pmu.h"
 #include <subcmd/parse-options.h>
 
+static bool desc_flag = true;
+
 int cmd_list(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix __maybe_unused)
 {
 	int i;
 	bool raw_dump = false;
 	struct option list_options[] = {
 		OPT_BOOLEAN(0, "raw-dump", &raw_dump, "Dump raw events"),
+		OPT_BOOLEAN('d', "desc", &desc_flag,
+			    "Print extra event descriptions. --no-desc to not print."),
 		OPT_END()
 	};
 	const char * const list_usage[] = {
-		"perf list [hw|sw|cache|tracepoint|pmu|sdt|event_glob]",
+		"perf list [--no-desc] [hw|sw|cache|tracepoint|pmu|sdt|event_glob]",
 		NULL
 	};
 
@@ -40,7 +44,7 @@ int cmd_list(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix __maybe_unused)
 		printf("\nList of pre-defined events (to be used in -e):\n\n");
 
 	if (argc == 0) {
-		print_events(NULL, raw_dump);
+		print_events(NULL, raw_dump, !desc_flag);
 		return 0;
 	}
 
@@ -61,14 +65,14 @@ int cmd_list(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix __maybe_unused)
 			 strcmp(argv[i], "hwcache") == 0)
 			print_hwcache_events(NULL, raw_dump);
 		else if (strcmp(argv[i], "pmu") == 0)
-			print_pmu_events(NULL, raw_dump);
+			print_pmu_events(NULL, raw_dump, !desc_flag);
 		else if (strcmp(argv[i], "sdt") == 0)
 			print_sdt_events(NULL, NULL, raw_dump);
 		else if ((sep = strchr(argv[i], ':')) != NULL) {
 			int sep_idx;
 
 			if (sep == NULL) {
-				print_events(argv[i], raw_dump);
+				print_events(argv[i], raw_dump, !desc_flag);
 				continue;
 			}
 			sep_idx = sep - argv[i];
@@ -90,7 +94,7 @@ int cmd_list(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix __maybe_unused)
 			print_symbol_events(s, PERF_TYPE_SOFTWARE,
 					    event_symbols_sw, PERF_COUNT_SW_MAX, raw_dump);
 			print_hwcache_events(s, raw_dump);
-			print_pmu_events(s, raw_dump);
+			print_pmu_events(s, raw_dump, !desc_flag);
 			print_tracepoint_events(NULL, s, raw_dump);
 			print_sdt_events(NULL, s, raw_dump);
 			free(s);
diff --git a/tools/perf/util/parse-events.c b/tools/perf/util/parse-events.c
index 33546c3ac1fe3f3f6b10f4773823cad38dc48337..3966ad79ee8d52f48660fb96750f2c92f0ccf2de 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/parse-events.c
+++ b/tools/perf/util/parse-events.c
@@ -2263,7 +2263,7 @@ void print_symbol_events(const char *event_glob, unsigned type,
 /*
  * Print the help text for the event symbols:
  */
-void print_events(const char *event_glob, bool name_only)
+void print_events(const char *event_glob, bool name_only, bool quiet_flag)
 {
 	print_symbol_events(event_glob, PERF_TYPE_HARDWARE,
 			    event_symbols_hw, PERF_COUNT_HW_MAX, name_only);
@@ -2273,7 +2273,7 @@ void print_events(const char *event_glob, bool name_only)
 
 	print_hwcache_events(event_glob, name_only);
 
-	print_pmu_events(event_glob, name_only);
+	print_pmu_events(event_glob, name_only, quiet_flag);
 
 	if (event_glob != NULL)
 		return;
diff --git a/tools/perf/util/parse-events.h b/tools/perf/util/parse-events.h
index 8d09a976fca80cb4a481158e79c1751c7f9a4f26..3bf376b42bf93237f2dbc1605c5611f5c1bc9eb6 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/parse-events.h
+++ b/tools/perf/util/parse-events.h
@@ -172,7 +172,7 @@ void parse_events_update_lists(struct list_head *list_event,
 void parse_events_evlist_error(struct parse_events_evlist *data,
 			       int idx, const char *str);
 
-void print_events(const char *event_glob, bool name_only);
+void print_events(const char *event_glob, bool name_only, bool quiet);
 
 struct event_symbol {
 	const char	*symbol;
diff --git a/tools/perf/util/pmu.c b/tools/perf/util/pmu.c
index 7b46e772f5f973be4d7c8e4fdcd9273d8639eab0..9dc3506d23fc8a9735d0d04db8700f0a0edc26c9 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/pmu.c
+++ b/tools/perf/util/pmu.c
@@ -1084,7 +1084,7 @@ static void wordwrap(char *s, int start, int max, int corr)
 	}
 }
 
-void print_pmu_events(const char *event_glob, bool name_only)
+void print_pmu_events(const char *event_glob, bool name_only, bool quiet_flag)
 {
 	struct perf_pmu *pmu;
 	struct perf_pmu_alias *alias;
@@ -1151,7 +1151,7 @@ void print_pmu_events(const char *event_glob, bool name_only)
 			printf("%s ", aliases[j].name);
 			continue;
 		}
-		if (aliases[j].desc) {
+		if (aliases[j].desc && !quiet_flag) {
 			if (numdesc++ == 0)
 				printf("\n");
 			printf("  %-50s\n", aliases[j].name);
diff --git a/tools/perf/util/pmu.h b/tools/perf/util/pmu.h
index 51d8d0d35e634c95db88059cdac9b74c2c56fb59..7b47192e03b512cf69ce2eefebf0524f8e13b1c7 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/pmu.h
+++ b/tools/perf/util/pmu.h
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ int perf_pmu__format_parse(char *dir, struct list_head *head);
 
 struct perf_pmu *perf_pmu__scan(struct perf_pmu *pmu);
 
-void print_pmu_events(const char *event_glob, bool name_only);
+void print_pmu_events(const char *event_glob, bool name_only, bool quiet);
 bool pmu_have_event(const char *pname, const char *name);
 
 int perf_pmu__scan_file(struct perf_pmu *pmu, const char *name, const char *fmt,