diff --git a/cmd.go b/cmd.go
index 8a55bf9..da652b7 100644
--- a/cmd.go
+++ b/cmd.go
@@ -143,7 +143,7 @@ func (cmd *Command) CommandSpecial(special string) *Command {
 }
 
 // Flag finds a flag from the command or the command's parents.
-func (cmd *Command) Flag(name string, short bool) *Flag {
+func (cmd *Command) Flag(name string, parents, short bool) *Flag {
 	if cmd.Flags != nil {
 		if i := slices.IndexFunc(cmd.Flags.Flags, func(g *Flag) bool {
 			return g.Name == name && !short ||
@@ -155,8 +155,8 @@ func (cmd *Command) Flag(name string, short bool) *Flag {
 			return cmd.Flags.Flags[i]
 		}
 	}
-	if cmd.Parent != nil {
-		return cmd.Parent.Flag(name, short)
+	if parents && cmd.Parent != nil {
+		return cmd.Parent.Flag(name, parents, short)
 	}
 	return nil
 }
diff --git a/example_test.go b/example_test.go
index 364bf53..2d330e2 100644
--- a/example_test.go
+++ b/example_test.go
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/xo/ox"
 )
 
+// Example is a quick example demonstrating the xo/ox package.
 func Example() {
 	type Verbosity int
 	args := struct {
@@ -38,13 +39,15 @@ func Example() {
 	//   -i, --ints int          a slice of ints
 	//   -d, --date date         formatted date
 	//   -v, --verbose           enable verbose
-	//   -v, --version           show version, then exit
+	//       --version           show version, then exit
 	//   -h, --help              show help, then exit
 	//
 	// See: https://github.com/xo/ox for more information.
 }
 
-func Example_test() {
+// Example_argsTest provides an example for testing arbitrary command-line
+// invocations by setting the arguments to [Parse] with [ox.Args].
+func Example_argsTest() {
 	args := struct {
 		Number float64 `ox:"a number"`
 	}{}
@@ -53,10 +56,12 @@ func Example_test() {
 	}{}
 	ox.RunContext(
 		context.Background(),
+		// ox.Exec(myFunc),
 		ox.Usage("extest", "test example"),
 		ox.Defaults(),
 		ox.From(&args),
 		ox.Sub(
+			// ox.Exec(mySubFunc),
 			ox.Usage("sub", "a sub command to test"),
 			ox.From(&subArgs),
 		),
@@ -121,7 +126,8 @@ func Example_psql() {
 		Password   bool   `ox:"force password prompt (should happen automatically),short:W,section:3"`
 	}{}
 	ox.Run(
-		ox.Usage("psql", ""),
+		// ox.Exec(myFunc),
+		ox.Usage("psql", "the PostgreSQL interactive terminal"),
 		ox.Help(
 			ox.Banner("psql is the PostgreSQL interactive terminal."),
 			ox.Spec("[OPTION]... [DBNAME [USERNAME]]"),
diff --git a/help.go b/help.go
index 7847cb0..8cf49d5 100644
--- a/help.go
+++ b/help.go
@@ -16,7 +16,11 @@ func NewVersionFor(cmd *Command) error {
 	if g := cmd.FlagSpecial("hook:version"); g != nil {
 		g.Type, g.Def, g.NoArg, g.NoArgDef = HookT, DefaultVersion, true, ""
 	} else {
-		cmd.Flags = cmd.Flags.Hook(text.VersionFlagName, text.VersionFlagDesc, DefaultVersion, Short(text.VersionFlagShort))
+		var opts []Option
+		if cmd.Flag(text.VersionFlagShort, false, true) == nil {
+			opts = append(opts, Short(text.VersionFlagShort))
+		}
+		cmd.Flags = cmd.Flags.Hook(text.VersionFlagName, text.VersionFlagDesc, DefaultVersion, opts...)
 	}
 	return nil
 }
@@ -35,7 +39,11 @@ func NewHelpFor(cmd *Command, opts ...Option) error {
 	if g := cmd.FlagSpecial("hook:help"); g != nil {
 		g.Type, g.Def, g.NoArg, g.NoArgDef = HookT, f, true, ""
 	} else {
-		cmd.Flags = cmd.Flags.Hook(text.HelpFlagName, text.HelpFlagDesc, f, Short(text.HelpFlagShort))
+		var opts []Option
+		if cmd.Flag(text.HelpFlagShort, false, true) == nil {
+			opts = append(opts, Short(text.HelpFlagShort))
+		}
+		cmd.Flags = cmd.Flags.Hook(text.HelpFlagName, text.HelpFlagDesc, f, opts...)
 	}
 	return nil
 }
diff --git a/opts.go b/opts.go
index 5cb7dbf..8e06aae 100644
--- a/opts.go
+++ b/opts.go
@@ -619,7 +619,7 @@ func (m SectionMap) Option() option {
 		post: func(cmd *Command) error {
 			for _, k := range slices.Sorted(maps.Keys(m)) {
 				if strings.HasPrefix(k, "flag:") {
-					if g := cmd.Flag(strings.TrimPrefix(k, "flag:"), false); g != nil {
+					if g := cmd.Flag(strings.TrimPrefix(k, "flag:"), false, false); g != nil {
 						g.Section = m[k]
 					}
 				} else if c := cmd.Command(k); c != nil {
diff --git a/parse.go b/parse.go
index 8927830..92ee87e 100644
--- a/parse.go
+++ b/parse.go
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ func parse(ctx *Context, cmd *Command, args []string, vars Vars) (*Command, []st
 // parseLong parses a long flag ('--arg' '--arg v' '--arg k=v' '--arg=' '--arg=v').
 func parseLong(ctx *Context, cmd *Command, s string, args []string, vars Vars) ([]string, error) {
 	arg, value, ok := strings.Cut(strings.TrimPrefix(s, "--"), "=")
-	g := cmd.Flag(arg, false)
+	g := cmd.Flag(arg, true, false)
 	switch {
 	case g == nil:
 		return nil, newFlagError(arg, ErrUnknownFlag)
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ func parseLong(ctx *Context, cmd *Command, s string, args []string, vars Vars) (
 func parseShort(ctx *Context, cmd *Command, s string, args []string, vars Vars) ([]string, error) {
 	for v := []rune(s[1:]); len(v) != 0; v = v[1:] {
 		arg := string(v[0])
-		switch g, n := cmd.Flag(arg, true), len(v[1:]); {
+		switch g, n := cmd.Flag(arg, true, true), len(v[1:]); {
 		case g == nil:
 			return nil, newFlagError(arg, ErrUnknownFlag)
 		case g.NoArg: // -a