diff --git a/src/compiler/GF/Command/Commands.hs b/src/compiler/GF/Command/Commands.hs
index 82ce69b41..a07ad014a 100644
--- a/src/compiler/GF/Command/Commands.hs
+++ b/src/compiler/GF/Command/Commands.hs
@@ -216,6 +216,7 @@ allCommands env@(pgf, mos) = Map.fromList [
        ],
      options = [
        ("all","pick all strings (forms and variants) from records and tables"),
+       ("one","pick the first strings, if there is any, from records and tables"),
        ("table","show all strings labelled by parameters"),
        ("unqual","hide qualifying module names")
        ],
diff --git a/src/compiler/GF/Grammar/ShowTerm.hs b/src/compiler/GF/Grammar/ShowTerm.hs
index e039aea79..7fc9ba4bf 100644
--- a/src/compiler/GF/Grammar/ShowTerm.hs
+++ b/src/compiler/GF/Grammar/ShowTerm.hs
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ showTerm gr style q t = render $
   case style of
     TermPrintTable   -> vcat [p <+> s | (p,s) <- ppTermTabular gr q t]
     TermPrintAll     -> vcat [      s | (p,s) <- ppTermTabular gr q t]
+    TermPrintOne     -> vcat [      s | (p,s) <- take 1 (ppTermTabular gr q t)]
     TermPrintDefault -> ppTerm q 0 t
 
 ppTermTabular :: SourceGrammar -> TermPrintQual -> Term -> [(Doc,Doc)]
@@ -37,4 +38,5 @@ ppTermTabular gr q = pr where
 data TermPrintStyle
   = TermPrintTable
   | TermPrintAll
+  | TermPrintOne
   | TermPrintDefault
diff --git a/src/compiler/GFI.hs b/src/compiler/GFI.hs
index 73aebc960..49e68c024 100644
--- a/src/compiler/GFI.hs
+++ b/src/compiler/GFI.hs
@@ -111,6 +111,7 @@ loop opts gfenv0 = do
              let
                pOpts style q ("-table"  :ws) = pOpts TermPrintTable   q           ws
                pOpts style q ("-all"    :ws) = pOpts TermPrintAll     q           ws
+               pOpts style q ("-one"    :ws) = pOpts TermPrintOne     q           ws
                pOpts style q ("-default":ws) = pOpts TermPrintDefault q           ws
                pOpts style q ("-unqual" :ws) = pOpts style            Unqualified ws
                pOpts style q ("-qual"   :ws) = pOpts style            Qualified   ws