diff --git a/tools/perf/builtin-diff.c b/tools/perf/builtin-diff.c
index c903fe13c173282b58aadfefb202c15e2640daad..6ef80f22c1e2fefe5cc2d6c68864b72b1a730a30 100644
--- a/tools/perf/builtin-diff.c
+++ b/tools/perf/builtin-diff.c
@@ -1134,6 +1134,8 @@ static int data_init(int argc, const char **argv)
 
 int cmd_diff(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix __maybe_unused)
 {
+	perf_config(perf_default_config, NULL);
+
 	sort_order = diff__default_sort_order;
 	argc = parse_options(argc, argv, options, diff_usage, 0);
 
diff --git a/tools/perf/util/config.c b/tools/perf/util/config.c
index 3e0fdd369ccb12223d63359ecf4e32ca95133157..24519e14ac569cf62a8cadce29c9073d5ac9ae64 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/config.c
+++ b/tools/perf/util/config.c
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
 #include "util.h"
 #include "cache.h"
 #include "exec_cmd.h"
+#include "util/hist.h"  /* perf_hist_config */
 
 #define MAXNAME (256)
 
@@ -355,6 +356,9 @@ int perf_default_config(const char *var, const char *value,
 	if (!prefixcmp(var, "core."))
 		return perf_default_core_config(var, value);
 
+	if (!prefixcmp(var, "hist."))
+		return perf_hist_config(var, value);
+
 	/* Add other config variables here. */
 	return 0;
 }
diff --git a/tools/perf/util/hist.c b/tools/perf/util/hist.c
index 3c2dd233b98e1019b2039845e34ae90794418bb3..5a892477aa50b345d83c02c2c53faf4dce660248 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/hist.c
+++ b/tools/perf/util/hist.c
@@ -956,3 +956,11 @@ int parse_filter_percentage(const struct option *opt __maybe_unused,
 
 	return 0;
 }
+
+int perf_hist_config(const char *var, const char *value)
+{
+	if (!strcmp(var, "hist.percentage"))
+		return parse_filter_percentage(NULL, value, 0);
+
+	return 0;
+}
diff --git a/tools/perf/util/hist.h b/tools/perf/util/hist.h
index a4ec336ae3fe28c88852c8329d93147cd99ded06..5a0343eb22e2e2e8f5487fc86a5d216a8bc14cff 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/hist.h
+++ b/tools/perf/util/hist.h
@@ -258,5 +258,6 @@ unsigned int hists__sort_list_width(struct hists *hists);
 struct option;
 int parse_filter_percentage(const struct option *opt __maybe_unused,
 			    const char *arg, int unset __maybe_unused);
+int perf_hist_config(const char *var, const char *value);
 
 #endif	/* __PERF_HIST_H */