diff --git a/src/kit/taosdump/taosdump.c b/src/kit/taosdump/taosdump.c
index 092374cef1..96a1cd16f8 100644
--- a/src/kit/taosdump/taosdump.c
+++ b/src/kit/taosdump/taosdump.c
@@ -214,8 +214,8 @@ static struct argp_option options[] = {
   // dump format options
   {"schemaonly",    's', 0,             0,  "Only dump schema.",                                            3},
   {"with-property", 'M', 0,             0,  "Dump schema with properties.",                                 3},
-  {"start-time",    'S', "START_TIME",  0,  "Start time to dump.",                                          3},
-  {"end-time",      'E', "END_TIME",    0,  "End time to dump. Epoch or ISO8601/RFC3339 format is acceptable. For example: 2017-10-01T18:00:00+0800",  3},
+  {"start-time",    'S', "START_TIME",  0,  "Start time to dump. Either Epoch or ISO8601/RFC3339 format is acceptable. Epoch precision millisecond. ISO8601 format example: 2017-10-01T18:00:00.000+0800 or 2017-10-0100:00:00.000+0800 or '2017-10-01 00:00:00.000+0800'",  3},
+  {"end-time",      'E', "END_TIME",    0,  "End time to dump. Either Epoch or ISO8601/RFC3339 format is acceptable. Epoch precision millisecond. ISO8601 format example: 2017-10-01T18:00:00.000+0800 or 2017-10-0100:00:00.000+0800 or '2017-10-01 00:00:00.000+0800'",  3},
   {"data-batch",    'N', "DATA_BATCH",  0,  "Number of data point per insert statement. Default is 1.",     3},
   {"max-sql-len",   'L', "SQL_LEN",     0,  "Max length of one sql. Default is 65480.",                     3},
   {"table-batch",   't', "TABLE_BATCH", 0,  "Number of table dumpout into one output file. Default is 1.",  3},
@@ -482,7 +482,8 @@ static int queryDbImpl(TAOS *taos, char *command) {
 
 static void parse_args(int argc, char *argv[], SArguments *arguments) {
   for (int i = 1; i < argc; i++) {
-    if (strcmp(argv[i], "-E") == 0) {
+    if ((strcmp(argv[i], "-S") == 0)
+        || (strcmp(argv[i], "-E") == 0)) {
       if (argv[i+1]) {
         char *tmp = strdup(argv[++i]);
 
@@ -509,7 +510,7 @@ static void parse_args(int argc, char *argv[], SArguments *arguments) {
           exit(-1);
         }
       } else {
-        errorPrint("%s() LN%d, -E need a valid value following!\n", __func__, __LINE__);
+        errorPrint("%s need a valid value following!\n", argv[i]);
         exit(-1);
       }
     } else if (strcmp(argv[i], "-g") == 0) {
@@ -522,7 +523,8 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
 
   /* Parse our arguments; every option seen by parse_opt will be
      reflected in arguments. */
-  parse_args(argc, argv, &g_args);
+  if (argc > 1)
+    parse_args(argc, argv, &g_args);
 
   argp_parse(&argp, argc, argv, 0, 0, &g_args);