diff --git a/byexample/cmdline.py b/byexample/cmdline.py
index 4ec2d144..ad603dff 100644
--- a/byexample/cmdline.py
+++ b/byexample/cmdline.py
@@ -341,6 +341,11 @@ def parse_args(args=None):
         default='all',
         help="control how to pretty print the output."
     )
+    g.add_argument(
+        "--no-progress-bar",
+        action='store_true',
+        help="do not show the progress bar."
+    )
     g.add_argument(
         '-V',
         '--version',
diff --git a/byexample/init.py b/byexample/init.py
index 1a92a16d..91b188ec 100644
--- a/byexample/init.py
+++ b/byexample/init.py
@@ -563,7 +563,8 @@ def init_byexample(args, sharer):
 
     verify_encodings(args.encoding, args.verbosity)
     cfg = {
-        'use_progress_bar': args.pretty == 'all',
+        'use_progress_bar': args.pretty == 'all' and \
+                            not args.no_progress_bar,
         'use_colors': args.pretty == 'all',
         'quiet': args.quiet,
         'verbosity': args.verbosity,
diff --git a/docs/overview/usage.md b/docs/overview/usage.md
index de3471cd..c8b9ab9e 100644
--- a/docs/overview/usage.md
+++ b/docs/overview/usage.md
@@ -95,7 +95,8 @@ usage: byexample -l <languages> [--ff] [--timeout <secs>] [-j <n>] [--dry]
                  [-d {none,unified,ndiff,context,tool}] [--difftool <cmd>]
                  [--no-enhance-diff] [-o <options>] [--show-options]
                  [-m <dir>] [--encoding <enc>] [--show-failures <n>]
-                 [--pretty {none,all}] [-V] [-v | -q] [-h | -xh]
+                 [--pretty {none,all}] [--no-progress-bar] [-V] [-v | -q]
+                 [-h | -xh]
  
 Write snippets of code in C++, Python, Ruby, and others as documentation and
 execute them as regression tests.
@@ -151,6 +152,7 @@ Miscellaneous Options:
                         suppress the rest (the execution of the examples is
                         not stopped, only the failures are not shown)
   --pretty {none,all}   control how to pretty print the output.
+  --no-progress-bar     do not show the progress bar.
   -V, --version         show byexample's version and license, then exit
  
 Logging: