diff --git a/packages/truffle-core/lib/command.js b/packages/truffle-core/lib/command.js
index 9fde2b76890..60074f8481f 100644
--- a/packages/truffle-core/lib/command.js
+++ b/packages/truffle-core/lib/command.js
@@ -100,9 +100,41 @@ class Command {
       }
     });
 
-    const newOptions = Object.assign({}, clone, argv);
-
+    //Check unsupported command line flag according to the option list in help
     try {
+      const inputOptions = inputStrings
+        .map(string => {
+          return string.startsWith("--") ? string : null;
+        })
+        .filter(item => {
+          return item != null;
+        });
+
+      const validOptions = result.command.help.options
+        .map(item => {
+          let opt = item.option.split(" ")[0];
+          return opt.startsWith("--") ? opt : null;
+        })
+        .filter(item => {
+          return item != null;
+        });
+
+      let invalidOptions = inputOptions.filter(
+        opt => !validOptions.includes(opt)
+      );
+
+      if (invalidOptions.length > 0) {
+        if (options.logger) {
+          const log = options.logger.log || options.logger.debug;
+          log(
+            "> Warning: possible unsupported (undocumented in help) command line option: " +
+              invalidOptions
+          );
+        }
+      }
+
+      const newOptions = Object.assign({}, clone, argv);
+
       result.command.run(newOptions, callback);
       analytics.send({
         command: result.name ? result.name : "other",
diff --git a/packages/truffle-core/lib/commands/obtain.js b/packages/truffle-core/lib/commands/obtain.js
index 085ebbbdb0f..28895f3e3d9 100644
--- a/packages/truffle-core/lib/commands/obtain.js
+++ b/packages/truffle-core/lib/commands/obtain.js
@@ -2,14 +2,11 @@ module.exports = {
   command: "obtain",
   description: "Fetch and cache a specified compiler",
   help: {
-    usage: "truffle obtain <--<compiler_name> <version>>",
+    usage: "truffle obtain [--solc <version>]",
     options: [
       {
-        option: "<--<compiler_name> <version>>",
-        description:
-          `Download and cache a version of the specified compiler.\n` +
-          `                    compiler_name must be one of the following: ` +
-          `'solc'.(required)`
+        option: "--solc <version>",
+        description: `Download and cache a version of the solc compiler. (required)`
       }
     ]
   },
diff --git a/packages/truffle-core/test/commands.js b/packages/truffle-core/test/commands.js
index bc649bddc20..02c688c0bb4 100644
--- a/packages/truffle-core/test/commands.js
+++ b/packages/truffle-core/test/commands.js
@@ -37,4 +37,37 @@ describe("Commander", function() {
     var actualCommand = commander.getCommand("console").command;
     assert.equal(actualCommand, commands.console);
   });
+
+  it("will warn and display error for unsupported flags in commands", function() {
+    var actualCommand = commander.getCommand("mig").command;
+    assert.equal(actualCommand, commands.migrate);
+
+    const originalLog = console.log || console.debug;
+    let warning = "";
+    console.log = function(msg) {
+      console.log = originalLog;
+      warning = msg;
+    };
+
+    commander.run(
+      [
+        "migrate",
+        "--network",
+        "localhost",
+        "--unsupportedflag",
+        "invalidoption",
+        "--unsupportedflag2",
+        "invalidflag2"
+      ],
+      { noAliases: true, logger: console },
+      function() {
+        //ignore. not part of test
+      }
+    );
+
+    assert.equal(
+      warning,
+      "> Warning: possible unsupported (undocumented in help) command line option: --unsupportedflag,--unsupportedflag2"
+    );
+  });
 });