diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
index 0b3c97169f..8b0e67c475 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
@@ -528,6 +528,8 @@ Release 2.8.0 - UNRELEASED
     HADOOP-11328. ZKFailoverController does not log Exception when doRun raises
     errors. (Tianyin Xu via ozawa)
 
+    HADOOP-11120. hadoop fs -rmr gives wrong advice. (Juliet Hougland via wang)
+
   OPTIMIZATIONS
 
     HADOOP-11785. Reduce the number of listStatus operation in distcp
diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/shell/Delete.java b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/shell/Delete.java
index 6798fbee43..f882817e92 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/shell/Delete.java
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/shell/Delete.java
@@ -141,7 +141,7 @@ class Delete {
 
     @Override
     public String getReplacementCommand() {
-      return "rm -r";
+      return "-rm -r";
     }
   }
 
diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/test/resources/testConf.xml b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/test/resources/testConf.xml
index 9b72960d63..57cce148ee 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/test/resources/testConf.xml
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/test/resources/testConf.xml
@@ -453,7 +453,7 @@
         </comparator>
         <comparator>
           <type>RegexpComparator</type>
-          <expected-output>^\s*\(DEPRECATED\) Same as 'rm -r'\s*</expected-output>
+          <expected-output>^\s*\(DEPRECATED\) Same as '-rm -r'\s*</expected-output>
         </comparator>
       </comparators>
     </test>