diff --git a/common/protocol.py b/common/protocol.py
index 99a2fe09..1083a94b 100644
--- a/common/protocol.py
+++ b/common/protocol.py
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@ protocol = [
 ["stop", "stops all jails and terminate the server"], 
 ["status", "gets the current status of the server"], 
 ["ping", "tests if the server is alive"], 
+["help", "return this output"], 
 ['', "LOGGING", ""],
 ["set loglevel <LEVEL>", "sets logging level to <LEVEL>. 0 is minimal, 4 is debug"], 
 ["get loglevel", "gets the logging level"], 
diff --git a/fail2ban-client b/fail2ban-client
index 7ee4a47c..76c18c04 100755
--- a/fail2ban-client
+++ b/fail2ban-client
@@ -380,7 +380,9 @@ class Fail2banClient:
 						if cmd == "exit" or cmd == "quit":
 							# Exit
 							return True
-						if not cmd == "":
+						if cmd == "help":
+							self.dispUsage()
+						elif not cmd == "":
 							self.__processCommand(shlex.split(cmd))
 			except (EOFError, KeyboardInterrupt):
 				print