diff --git a/man/pacat.1.xml.in b/man/pacat.1.xml.in
index 72fc0ad31..387f3ed4e 100644
--- a/man/pacat.1.xml.in
+++ b/man/pacat.1.xml.in
@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ License along with PulseAudio; if not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
     <option>
       <p><opt>-d | --device</opt><arg>=SINKORSOURCE</arg></p>
 
-      <optdesc><p>Specify the symbolic name of the sink/source to play/record this stream on/from.</p></optdesc>
+      <optdesc><p>Specify the symbolic name of the sink/source to play/record this stream on/from. The special names @DEFAULT_SINK@, @DEFAULT_SOURCE@ and @DEFAULT_MONITOR@ can be used to specify the default sink, source and monitor respectively.</p></optdesc>
     </option>
 
     <option>
diff --git a/src/utils/pacat.c b/src/utils/pacat.c
index 39ccaffd0..e656dee1b 100644
--- a/src/utils/pacat.c
+++ b/src/utils/pacat.c
@@ -681,7 +681,7 @@ static void help(const char *argv0) {
              "  -p, --playback                        Create a connection for playback\n\n"
              "  -v, --verbose                         Enable verbose operations\n\n"
              "  -s, --server=SERVER                   The name of the server to connect to\n"
-             "  -d, --device=DEVICE                   The name of the sink/source to connect to\n"
+             "  -d, --device=DEVICE                   The name of the sink/source to connect to. The special names @DEFAULT_SINK@, @DEFAULT_SOURCE@ and @DEFAULT_MONITOR@ can be used to specify the default sink, source and monitor respectively.\n"
              "  -n, --client-name=NAME                How to call this client on the server\n"
              "      --stream-name=NAME                How to call this stream on the server\n"
              "      --volume=VOLUME                   Specify the initial (linear) volume in range 0...65536\n"