diff --git a/tools/gst-launch.1.in b/tools/gst-launch.1.in
index 4449b2d7f0..f55dec0ce3 100644
--- a/tools/gst-launch.1.in
+++ b/tools/gst-launch.1.in
@@ -55,7 +55,14 @@ Prints the version string of the \fIGStreamer\fP core library.
 Causes \fIGStreamer\fP to abort if a warning message occurs.
 .TP 8
 .B  \-\-gst\-debug=STRING
-\fIGStreamer\fP debugging flags to set (list with \-\-gst\-mask\-help)
+A colon seperated list of category_name=level pairs to specify debugging levels
+for each category. Level is in the range 0-5 where 0 will show no messages, and
+5 will show all messages. The wildcard * can be used to match category names.
+
+Use \-\-gst\-debug\-help to show category names
+
+Example:
+GST_CAT=5:GST_ELEMENT_*=3
 .TP 8
 .B  \-\-gst\-debug\-level=LEVEL
 Sets the threshold for printing debugging messages.  A higher level