diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index 385745d..72241f2 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -7,6 +7,9 @@
   - don't crash when first unrecognized argument is also a handler
     name (boolean, file, finished, flag, etc...)
 
+  - don't hang when help text option table formats long option name
+    on its own line before indented description.
+
 
 ## Noteworthy changes in release 1.1.1 (2016-02-07) [stable]
 
diff --git a/lib/optparse/init.lua b/lib/optparse/init.lua
index b7bab03..bcbb89b 100644
--- a/lib/optparse/init.lua
+++ b/lib/optparse/init.lua
@@ -648,7 +648,8 @@ local function _init (self, spec)
 
   -- Register option handlers according to the help text.
   for _, spec in ipairs (specs) do
-    local options, handler = {}
+    -- append a trailing space separator to match %s in patterns below
+    local options, spec, handler = {}, spec .. ' '
 
     -- Loop around each '-' prefixed option on this line.
     while spec:sub (1, 1) == "-" do
@@ -776,6 +777,8 @@ return setmetatable ({
   --   -b                       a short option with no long option
   --       --long               a long option with no short option
   --       --another-long       a long option with internal hypen
+  --       --really-long-option-name
+  --                            with description on following line
   --   -v, --verbose            a combined short and long option
   --   -n, --dryrun, --dry-run  several spellings of the same option
   --   -u, --name=USER          require an argument
diff --git a/specs/optparse_spec.yaml b/specs/optparse_spec.yaml
index d48798e..da14219 100644
--- a/specs/optparse_spec.yaml
+++ b/specs/optparse_spec.yaml
@@ -32,6 +32,8 @@ specify optparse:
           --another-long       a long option with internal hypen
           --true               a Lua keyword as an option name
           --boolean            an optparse handler as an option name
+          --really-long-option-name
+                               with description on following line
       -v, --verbose            a combined short and long option
       -n, --dryrun, --dry-run  several spellings of the same option
       -u, --name=USER          require an argument