diff --git a/core/commands/object/object.go b/core/commands/object/object.go
index f07e18fc8fa..9e21cdcd0e6 100644
--- a/core/commands/object/object.go
+++ b/core/commands/object/object.go
@@ -113,7 +113,7 @@ multihash.
 		cmds.StringArg("key", true, false, "Key of the object to retrieve, in base58-encoded multihash format.").EnableStdin(),
 	},
 	Options: []cmds.Option{
-		cmds.BoolOption("headers", "v", "Print table headers (Hash, Size, Name)."),
+		cmds.BoolOption("headers", "v", "Print table headers (Hash, Size, Name).").Default(false),
 	},
 	Run: func(req cmds.Request, res cmds.Response) {
 		n, err := req.InvocContext().GetNode()
@@ -335,7 +335,7 @@ And then run:
 		cmds.FileArg("data", true, false, "Data to be stored as a DAG object.").EnableStdin(),
 	},
 	Options: []cmds.Option{
-		cmds.StringOption("inputenc", "Encoding type of input data, either \"protobuf\" or \"json\"."),
+		cmds.StringOption("inputenc", "Encoding type of input data. One of: {\"protobuf\", \"json\"}.").Default("json"),
 		cmds.StringOption("datafieldenc", "Encoding type of the data field, either \"text\" or \"base64\".").Default("text"),
 	},
 	Run: func(req cmds.Request, res cmds.Response) {
@@ -351,16 +351,13 @@ And then run:
 			return
 		}
 
-		inputenc, found, err := req.Option("inputenc").String()
+		inputenc, _, err := req.Option("inputenc").String()
 		if err != nil {
 			res.SetError(err, cmds.ErrNormal)
 			return
 		}
-		if !found {
-			inputenc = "json"
-		}
 
-		datafieldenc, found, err := req.Option("datafieldenc").String()
+		datafieldenc, _, err := req.Option("datafieldenc").String()
 		if err != nil {
 			res.SetError(err, cmds.ErrNormal)
 			return
diff --git a/core/commands/object/patch.go b/core/commands/object/patch.go
index 5713736607c..a0a635d2083 100644
--- a/core/commands/object/patch.go
+++ b/core/commands/object/patch.go
@@ -246,14 +246,14 @@ This takes an empty directory, and adds a link named 'foo' under it, pointing to
 a file containing 'bar', and returns the hash of the new object.
 `,
 	},
-	Options: []cmds.Option{
-		cmds.BoolOption("p", "create", "Create intermediary nodes."),
-	},
 	Arguments: []cmds.Argument{
 		cmds.StringArg("root", true, false, "The hash of the node to modify."),
 		cmds.StringArg("name", true, false, "Name of link to create."),
 		cmds.StringArg("ref", true, false, "IPFS object to add link to."),
 	},
+	Options: []cmds.Option{
+		cmds.BoolOption("p", "create", "Create intermediary nodes.").Default(false),
+	},
 	Run: func(req cmds.Request, res cmds.Response) {
 		nd, err := req.InvocContext().GetNode()
 		if err != nil {