diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 9d8cd15..c7081b2 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -110,14 +110,17 @@ commands is similar to that of GNU Parallel:
 - `{/.}`: Uses the basename, with the extension removed (`party`).
 
 ``` bash
-# Convert all jpg files to png files
-fd -e jpg -x 'convert {} {.}.png'
+# Convert all jpg files to png files:
+fd -e jpg -x convert {} {.}.png
 
 # Unpack all zip files (if no placeholder is given, the path is appended):
 fd -e zip -x unzip
 
 # Convert all flac files into opus files:
-fd -e flac -x 'ffmpeg -i {} -c:a libopus {.}.opus'
+fd -e flac -x ffmpeg -i {} -c:a libopus {.}.opus
+
+# Count the number of lines in Rust files (the command template can be terminated with ';'):
+fd -x wc -l \; -e rs
 ```
 
 ## Install
diff --git a/doc/fd.1 b/doc/fd.1
index aa52063..41007ae 100644
--- a/doc/fd.1
+++ b/doc/fd.1
@@ -101,21 +101,21 @@ Always colorize output.
 .BI "\-j, \-\-threads " num
 Number of threads to use for searching (default: number of available CPUs).
 .TP
-.BI "\-x, \-\-exec " command
+.BI "\-x, \-\-exec " command [args...] ;
 Execute
 .I command
-on each of the discovered path with the following tokens substituted:
+for each search result. The following placeholders are substituted by a path derived from the current search result:
 .RS
 .IP {}
 path
-.IP {.}
-path without extension
 .IP {/}
-basename of path
+basename
 .IP {//}
-parent of path
+parent directory
+.IP {.}
+path without file extension
 .IP {/.}
-basename of path without extension
+basename without file extension
 .RE
 .SH ENVIRONMENT
 .TP
diff --git a/src/app.rs b/src/app.rs
index a8da659..fb4b016 100644
--- a/src/app.rs
+++ b/src/app.rs
@@ -86,6 +86,7 @@ pub fn build_app() -> App<'static, 'static> {
                 .long("exec")
                 .short("x")
                 .multiple(true)
+                .min_values(1)
                 .allow_hyphen_values(true)
                 .value_terminator(";")
                 .value_name("cmd"),
@@ -173,15 +174,17 @@ fn usage() -> HashMap<&'static str, Help> {
         , "Filter by file extension"
         , "(Additionally) filter search results by their file extension.");
     doc!(h, "exec"
-        , "Execute the given command for each search result"
-        , "Execute the given command for each search result.\n\
-           The following are valid tokens that can be used within the expression for generating \
-           commands:\n \
-             '{}':   places the input in the location of this token\n \
-             '{.}':  removes the extension from the input\n \
-             '{/}':  places the basename of the input\n \
-             '{//}': places the parent of the input\n \
-             '{/.}': places the basename of the input, without the extension");
+        , "Execute a command for each search result"
+        , "Execute a command for each search result.\n\
+           All arguments following -exec are are taken to be arguments to the command until the \
+           argument ';' is encountered.\n\
+           Each occurrence of the following placeholders is substituted by a path derived from the \
+           current search result before the command is executed:\n  \
+             '{}':   path\n  \
+             '{/}':  basename\n  \
+             '{//}': parent directory\n  \
+             '{.}':  path without file extension\n  \
+             '{/.}': basename without file extension");
     doc!(h, "exclude"
         , "Exclude entries that match the given glob pattern."
         , "Exclude files/directories that match the given glob pattern. This overrides any \