diff --git a/cmd/root.go b/cmd/root.go
index 53d60c8c..b2b0bc6a 100644
--- a/cmd/root.go
+++ b/cmd/root.go
@@ -66,7 +66,7 @@ yq -P sample.json
 	}
 
 	rootCmd.PersistentFlags().StringVarP(&outputFormat, "output-format", "o", "auto", "[auto|a|yaml|y|json|j|props|p|xml|x] output format type.")
-	rootCmd.PersistentFlags().StringVarP(&inputFormat, "input-format", "p", "auto", "[auto|a|yaml|y|props|p|xml|x|toml|t] parse format for input. Note that json is a subset of yaml.")
+	rootCmd.PersistentFlags().StringVarP(&inputFormat, "input-format", "p", "auto", "[auto|a|yaml|y|props|p|xml|x|toml] parse format for input. Note that json is a subset of yaml.")
 
 	rootCmd.PersistentFlags().StringVar(&yqlib.ConfiguredXMLPreferences.AttributePrefix, "xml-attribute-prefix", yqlib.ConfiguredXMLPreferences.AttributePrefix, "prefix for xml attributes")
 	rootCmd.PersistentFlags().StringVar(&yqlib.ConfiguredXMLPreferences.ContentName, "xml-content-name", yqlib.ConfiguredXMLPreferences.ContentName, "name for xml content (if no attribute name is present).")
diff --git a/cmd/utils.go b/cmd/utils.go
index 5908564d..e8130bec 100644
--- a/cmd/utils.go
+++ b/cmd/utils.go
@@ -61,7 +61,12 @@ func initCommand(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) (string, []string, error) {
 
 		inputFormat = yqlib.FormatFromFilename(inputFilename)
 		if outputFormat == "" || outputFormat == "auto" || outputFormat == "a" {
-			outputFormat = yqlib.FormatFromFilename(inputFilename)
+			if inputFormat == "toml" {
+				// toml not yet supported for output
+				outputFormat = "yaml"
+			} else {
+				outputFormat = yqlib.FormatFromFilename(inputFilename)
+			}
 		}
 	} else if outputFormat == "" || outputFormat == "auto" || outputFormat == "a" {
 		// backwards compatibility -