diff --git a/tools/perf/builtin-buildid-cache.c b/tools/perf/builtin-buildid-cache.c
index 3d354ba6e9c59884ebed61b2ba512b42e0d9359a..41db2cba77eb96d4620982e1754e0b182b175e13 100644
--- a/tools/perf/builtin-buildid-cache.c
+++ b/tools/perf/builtin-buildid-cache.c
@@ -325,8 +325,8 @@ int cmd_buildid_cache(int argc, const char **argv)
 		   "file", "kcore file to add"),
 	OPT_STRING('r', "remove", &remove_name_list_str, "file list",
 		    "file(s) to remove"),
-	OPT_STRING('p', "purge", &purge_name_list_str, "path list",
-		    "path(s) to remove (remove old caches too)"),
+	OPT_STRING('p', "purge", &purge_name_list_str, "file list",
+		    "file(s) to remove (remove old caches too)"),
 	OPT_STRING('M', "missing", &missing_filename, "file",
 		   "to find missing build ids in the cache"),
 	OPT_BOOLEAN('f', "force", &force, "don't complain, do it"),