diff --git a/src/bin/pgbench/pgbench.c b/src/bin/pgbench/pgbench.c
index 508ed218e8..8fb63789bb 100644
--- a/src/bin/pgbench/pgbench.c
+++ b/src/bin/pgbench/pgbench.c
@@ -876,7 +876,11 @@ usage(void)
 		   "\nInitialization options:\n"
 		   "  -i, --initialize         invokes initialization mode\n"
 		   "  -I, --init-steps=[" ALL_INIT_STEPS "]+ (default \"" DEFAULT_INIT_STEPS "\")\n"
-		   "                           run selected initialization steps\n"
+		   "                           run selected initialization steps, in the specified order.\n"
+		   "                           These steps operate on standard tables used by pgbench\n"
+		   "                           'd' drop table, 't' create tables, 'g' generate data\n"
+		   "                           client-side, 'G' generate data server-side, 'v' vaccum\n"
+		   "                           tables, 'p' create primary keys, 'f' create foreign keys\n"
 		   "  -F, --fillfactor=NUM     set fill factor\n"
 		   "  -n, --no-vacuum          do not run VACUUM during initialization\n"
 		   "  -q, --quiet              quiet logging (one message each 5 seconds)\n"