diff --git a/Documentation/git-column.txt b/Documentation/git-column.txt
index f58e9c43e6..6cea9ab463 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-column.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-column.txt
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ OPTIONS
 --indent=<string>::
 	String to be printed at the beginning of each line.
 
---nl=<N>::
+--nl=<string>::
 	String to be printed at the end of each line,
 	including newline character.
 
diff --git a/builtin/column.c b/builtin/column.c
index 40d4b3bee2..158fdf53d9 100644
--- a/builtin/column.c
+++ b/builtin/column.c
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ int cmd_column(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 		OPT_INTEGER(0, "raw-mode", &colopts, N_("layout to use")),
 		OPT_INTEGER(0, "width", &copts.width, N_("maximum width")),
 		OPT_STRING(0, "indent", &copts.indent, N_("string"), N_("padding space on left border")),
-		OPT_INTEGER(0, "nl", &copts.nl, N_("padding space on right border")),
+		OPT_STRING(0, "nl", &copts.nl, N_("string"), N_("padding space on right border")),
 		OPT_INTEGER(0, "padding", &copts.padding, N_("padding space between columns")),
 		OPT_END()
 	};
diff --git a/t/t9002-column.sh b/t/t9002-column.sh
index 89983527b6..6d3dbde3fe 100755
--- a/t/t9002-column.sh
+++ b/t/t9002-column.sh
@@ -42,6 +42,24 @@ EOF
 	test_cmp expected actual
 '
 
+test_expect_success '--nl' '
+	cat >expected <<\EOF &&
+oneZ
+twoZ
+threeZ
+fourZ
+fiveZ
+sixZ
+sevenZ
+eightZ
+nineZ
+tenZ
+elevenZ
+EOF
+	git column --nl="Z$LF" --mode=plain <lista >actual &&
+	test_cmp expected actual
+'
+
 test_expect_success '80 columns' '
 	cat >expected <<\EOF &&
 one    two    three  four   five   six    seven  eight  nine   ten    eleven