diff --git a/cmd/constant.go b/cmd/constant.go
index 4a17d53e..d2774573 100644
--- a/cmd/constant.go
+++ b/cmd/constant.go
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ var forceColor = false
 var forceNoColor = false
 var colorsEnabled = false
 var indent = 2
-var printDocSeparators = true
+var noDocSeparators = false
 var nullInput = false
 var verbose = false
 var version = false
diff --git a/cmd/evaluate_all_command.go b/cmd/evaluate_all_command.go
index e9a717ae..246ddf27 100644
--- a/cmd/evaluate_all_command.go
+++ b/cmd/evaluate_all_command.go
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ func evaluateAll(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
 	if forceColor || (!forceNoColor && (fileInfo.Mode()&os.ModeCharDevice) != 0) {
 		colorsEnabled = true
 	}
-	printer := yqlib.NewPrinter(out, outputToJSON, unwrapScalar, colorsEnabled, indent, printDocSeparators)
+	printer := yqlib.NewPrinter(out, outputToJSON, unwrapScalar, colorsEnabled, indent, !noDocSeparators)
 
 	switch len(args) {
 	case 0:
diff --git a/cmd/evalute_sequence_command.go b/cmd/evalute_sequence_command.go
index 63077186..ab9480e9 100644
--- a/cmd/evalute_sequence_command.go
+++ b/cmd/evalute_sequence_command.go
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ func evaluateSequence(cmd *cobra.Command, args []string) error {
 	if forceColor || (!forceNoColor && (fileInfo.Mode()&os.ModeCharDevice) != 0) {
 		colorsEnabled = true
 	}
-	printer := yqlib.NewPrinter(out, outputToJSON, unwrapScalar, colorsEnabled, indent, printDocSeparators)
+	printer := yqlib.NewPrinter(out, outputToJSON, unwrapScalar, colorsEnabled, indent, !noDocSeparators)
 
 	switch len(args) {
 	case 0:
diff --git a/cmd/root.go b/cmd/root.go
index cdda014c..4a225ef4 100644
--- a/cmd/root.go
+++ b/cmd/root.go
@@ -57,6 +57,7 @@ func New() *cobra.Command {
 	rootCmd.PersistentFlags().BoolVarP(&verbose, "verbose", "v", false, "verbose mode")
 	rootCmd.PersistentFlags().BoolVarP(&outputToJSON, "tojson", "j", false, "output as json. Set indent to 0 to print json in one line.")
 	rootCmd.PersistentFlags().BoolVarP(&nullInput, "null-input", "n", false, "Don't read input, simply evaluate the expression given. Useful for creating yaml docs from scratch.")
+	rootCmd.PersistentFlags().BoolVarP(&noDocSeparators, "no-doc", "N", false, "Don't print document separators (---)")
 
 	rootCmd.PersistentFlags().IntVarP(&indent, "indent", "I", 2, "sets indent level for output")
 	rootCmd.Flags().BoolVarP(&version, "version", "V", false, "Print version information and quit")
diff --git a/cmd/version.go b/cmd/version.go
index 394dc638..85d92382 100644
--- a/cmd/version.go
+++ b/cmd/version.go
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ var (
 	GitDescribe string
 
 	// Version is main version number that is being run at the moment.
-	Version = "4.0.0-beta"
+	Version = "4.0.0-alpha1"
 
 	// VersionPrerelease is a pre-release marker for the version. If this is "" (empty string)
 	// then it means that it is a final release. Otherwise, this is a pre-release