diff --git a/Doc/library/argparse.rst b/Doc/library/argparse.rst
index cef197f305..0c2bae97d4 100644
--- a/Doc/library/argparse.rst
+++ b/Doc/library/argparse.rst
@@ -148,7 +148,7 @@ ArgumentParser objects
    as keyword arguments. Each parameter has its own more detailed description
    below, but in short they are:
 
-   * prog_ - The name of the program (default: ``sys.argv[0]``)
+   * prog_ - The name of the program (default: basename of ``sys.argv[0]``)
 
    * usage_ - The string describing the program usage (default: generated from
      arguments added to parser)
diff --git a/Lib/argparse.py b/Lib/argparse.py
index 798766f6c4..d711086408 100644
--- a/Lib/argparse.py
+++ b/Lib/argparse.py
@@ -1598,7 +1598,7 @@ class ArgumentParser(_AttributeHolder, _ActionsContainer):
     """Object for parsing command line strings into Python objects.
 
     Keyword Arguments:
-        - prog -- The name of the program (default: sys.argv[0])
+        - prog -- The name of the program (default: basename of sys.argv[0])
         - usage -- A usage message (default: auto-generated from arguments)
         - description -- A description of what the program does
         - epilog -- Text following the argument descriptions