diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
index fc7141d1a7..f522d6c5d1 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/CHANGES.txt
@@ -79,6 +79,8 @@ Trunk (unreleased changes)
 
     HADOOP-7574. Improve FSShell -stat, add user/group elements (XieXianshan via harsh)
 
+    HADOOP-7348. Change 'addnl' in getmerge util to be a flag '-nl' instead (XieXianshan via harsh)
+
   BUGS
 
     HADOOP-7851. Configuration.getClasses() never returns the default value. 
diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/docs/src/documentation/content/xdocs/file_system_shell.xml b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/docs/src/documentation/content/xdocs/file_system_shell.xml
index ef4f76e5c8..6206a968a7 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/docs/src/documentation/content/xdocs/file_system_shell.xml
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/docs/src/documentation/content/xdocs/file_system_shell.xml
@@ -260,11 +260,11 @@
 		<section>
 			<title> getmerge </title>
 			<p>
-				<code>Usage: hdfs dfs -getmerge &lt;src&gt; &lt;localdst&gt; [addnl]</code>
+				<code>Usage: hdfs dfs -getmerge [-nl] &lt;src&gt; &lt;localdst&gt;</code>
 			</p>
 			<p>
 	  Takes a source directory and a destination file as input and concatenates files in src into the destination local file. 
-	  Optionally <code>addnl</code> can be set to enable adding a newline character at the end of each file.  
+	  Optionally <code>-nl</code> flag can be set to enable adding a newline character at the end of each file during merge.
 	  </p>
 		</section>
 		
diff --git a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/shell/CopyCommands.java b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/shell/CopyCommands.java
index 066e5fdb89..5260d9c80d 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/shell/CopyCommands.java
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/fs/shell/CopyCommands.java
@@ -45,26 +45,22 @@ public static void registerCommands(CommandFactory factory) {
   /** merge multiple files together */
   public static class Merge extends FsCommand {
     public static final String NAME = "getmerge";    
-    public static final String USAGE = "<src> <localdst> [addnl]";
+    public static final String USAGE = "[-nl] <src> <localdst>";
     public static final String DESCRIPTION =
       "Get all the files in the directories that\n" +
       "match the source file pattern and merge and sort them to only\n" +
-      "one file on local fs. <src> is kept.";
+      "one file on local fs. <src> is kept.\n" +
+      "  -nl   Add a newline character at the end of each file.";
 
     protected PathData dst = null;
     protected String delimiter = null;
 
     @Override
     protected void processOptions(LinkedList<String> args) throws IOException {
-      CommandFormat cf = new CommandFormat(2, 3);
+      CommandFormat cf = new CommandFormat(2, 3, "nl");
       cf.parse(args);
 
-      // TODO: this really should be a -nl option
-      if ((args.size() > 2) && Boolean.parseBoolean(args.removeLast())) {
-        delimiter = "\n";
-      } else {
-        delimiter = null;
-      }
+      delimiter = cf.getOpt("nl") ? "\n" : null;
 
       dst = new PathData(new File(args.removeLast()), getConf());
     }
@@ -197,4 +193,4 @@ public static class CopyToLocal extends Get {
     public static final String USAGE = Get.USAGE;
     public static final String DESCRIPTION = "Identical to the -get command.";
   }
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}
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 e437cbccad..b1ce87e888 100644
--- a/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/test/resources/testConf.xml
+++ b/hadoop-common-project/hadoop-common/src/test/resources/testConf.xml
@@ -449,7 +449,7 @@
       <comparators>
         <comparator>
           <type>RegexpComparator</type>
-          <expected-output>^-getmerge &lt;src&gt; &lt;localdst&gt; \[addnl\]:( |\t)*Get all the files in the directories that( )*</expected-output>
+          <expected-output>^-getmerge \[-nl\] &lt;src&gt; &lt;localdst&gt;:( |\t)*Get all the files in the directories that( )*</expected-output>
         </comparator>
         <comparator>
           <type>RegexpComparator</type>
@@ -459,6 +459,10 @@
           <type>RegexpComparator</type>
           <expected-output>^( |\t)*one file on local fs. &lt;src&gt; is kept.( )*</expected-output>
         </comparator>
+        <comparator>
+          <type>RegexpComparator</type>
+          <expected-output>^( |\t)*-nl   Add a newline character at the end of each file.( )*</expected-output>
+        </comparator>
       </comparators>
     </test>