diff --git a/Documentation/git-check-attr.txt b/Documentation/git-check-attr.txt
index 5abdbaa51c..760aca9fa9 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-check-attr.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-check-attr.txt
@@ -31,8 +31,9 @@ OPTIONS
 	Read file names from stdin instead of from the command-line.
 
 -z::
-	Only meaningful with `--stdin`; paths are separated with a
-	NUL character instead of a linefeed character.
+	The output format is modified to be machine-parseable.
+	If `--stdin` is also given, input paths are separated
+	with a NUL character instead of a linefeed character.
 
 \--::
 	Interpret all preceding arguments as attributes and all following
@@ -48,6 +49,10 @@ OUTPUT
 The output is of the form:
 <path> COLON SP <attribute> COLON SP <info> LF
 
+unless `-z` is in effect, in which case NUL is used as delimiter:
+<path> NUL <attribute> NUL <info> NUL
+
+
 <path> is the path of a file being queried, <attribute> is an attribute
 being queried and <info> can be either:
 
diff --git a/builtin/check-attr.c b/builtin/check-attr.c
index 7cc9b5d94a..cd46690ec7 100644
--- a/builtin/check-attr.c
+++ b/builtin/check-attr.c
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ static const struct option check_attr_options[] = {
 	OPT_BOOLEAN(0,  "cached", &cached_attrs, N_("use .gitattributes only from the index")),
 	OPT_BOOLEAN(0 , "stdin", &stdin_paths, N_("read file names from stdin")),
 	OPT_BOOLEAN('z', NULL, &nul_term_line,
-		    N_("input paths are terminated by a NUL character")),
+		    N_("terminate input and output records by a NUL character")),
 	OPT_END()
 };
 
@@ -38,8 +38,16 @@ static void output_attr(int cnt, struct git_attr_check *check,
 		else if (ATTR_UNSET(value))
 			value = "unspecified";
 
-		quote_c_style(file, NULL, stdout, 0);
-		printf(": %s: %s\n", git_attr_name(check[j].attr), value);
+		if (nul_term_line) {
+			printf("%s%c" /* path */
+			       "%s%c" /* attrname */
+			       "%s%c" /* attrvalue */,
+			       file, 0, git_attr_name(check[j].attr), 0, value, 0);
+		} else {
+			quote_c_style(file, NULL, stdout, 0);
+			printf(": %s: %s\n", git_attr_name(check[j].attr), value);
+		}
+
 	}
 }