diff --git a/scripts/play.pl b/scripts/play.pl
index 961bfd7..402878e 100644
--- a/scripts/play.pl
+++ b/scripts/play.pl
@@ -13,11 +13,12 @@ our (%queue, %timer);
 if (weechat::register($SCRIPT_NAME, $SCRIPT_AUTHOR, $SCRIPT_VERSION,
  $SCRIPT_LICENCE, $SCRIPT_DESC, '', '')) {
 	weechat::hook_command('play', 'Play ASCII art',
-		qq([-delay ms] [-find] [-pipe "command"] [-fmt "text"] filename\n-stop),
+		qq([-delay ms] [-find] [-pipe "command"] [-fmt "list"] filename\n-stop),
 		"-delay: delay in milliseconds between lines\n".
 		"-find: list matching files, don't play\n".
 		"-pipe: pipe output into command\n".
-		"-fmt: treat file as a format string and replace with text\n".
+		"-fmt: treat file as a format string and replace with arguments in\n".
+		"    list. Arguments are separated by semicolons (;)\n".
 		"filename: file to play. Supports wildcards. By default, searches\n".
 		"    subdirectories as well unless '/' is found in the filename\n".
 		"-stop: stop currently playing file in buffer",
@@ -114,7 +115,8 @@ sub cmd_play {
 	if ($path and open FH, "<", $path) {
 		my @lines;
 		while (<FH>) {
-			$_ = sprintf $_, split ' ', $fmt if $fmt;
+			no warnings; # sprintf barks if there's nothing to replace
+			$_ = sprintf $_, split ';', $fmt if $fmt;
 			push @lines, s/[\r\n]*$//r
 		}
 		close FH;