diff --git a/main/src/main/scala/sbt/Main.scala b/main/src/main/scala/sbt/Main.scala
index da44d0cb8..2a9c88505 100644
--- a/main/src/main/scala/sbt/Main.scala
+++ b/main/src/main/scala/sbt/Main.scala
@@ -357,7 +357,7 @@ object BuiltinCommands {
   }
 
   def taskStrings(key: AttributeKey[_]): Option[(String, String)] = key.description map { d =>
-    (key.label, d)
+    (key.label, d.split("\r?\n")(0))
   }
 
   def defaults = Command.command(DefaultsCommand) { s =>