diff --git a/docs/configuration/environment-variables.md b/docs/configuration/environment-variables.md
index fd39408d4..3bfffe858 100644
--- a/docs/configuration/environment-variables.md
+++ b/docs/configuration/environment-variables.md
@@ -5,10 +5,11 @@ Typically an application will require some configuration to run properly. Dokku
 The `config` plugin provides the following commands to manage your variables:
 
 ```
-config (<app>|--global)                                   Display all global or app-specific config vars
-config:get (<app>|--global) KEY                           Display a global or app-specific config value
-config:set (<app>|--global) KEY1=VALUE1 [KEY2=VALUE2 ...] Set one or more config vars
-config:unset (<app>|--global) KEY1 [KEY2 ...]             Unset one or more config vars
+config (<app>|--global)                                     Display all global or app-specific config vars
+config:get (<app>|--global) KEY                             Display a global or app-specific config value
+config:set (<app>|--global) KEY1=VALUE1 [KEY2=VALUE2 ...]   Set one or more config vars
+config:unset (<app>|--global) KEY1 [KEY2 ...]               Unset one or more config vars
+config:export [--format=FORMAT] [--merged] (<app>|--global) Export all global or app-specific configuration
 ```
 
 The variables are available both at run time and during the application build/compilation step for buildpack-based deploys. For security reasons - and as per [docker recommendations](https://github.com/docker/docker/issues/13490) - Dockerfile-based deploys have variables available *only* during runtime, as noted in [this issue](https://github.com/dokku/dokku/issues/1860).
@@ -50,13 +51,14 @@ dokku config:export node-js-app
 #   export COMPILE_ASSETS='1'
 
 # source in all the node-js-app app environment variables
-eval $(dokku config node-js-app --export)
+eval $(dokku config:export node-js-app)
 ```
 
-You can also output the variables in a single-line for usage in command-line utilities with the `--shell` flag:
+You can control the format of the exported variables with the `--format` flag. 
+`--format=shell` will output the variables in a single-line for usage in command-line utilities:
 
 ```shell
-dokku config:export node-js-app --format shell
+dokku config:export --format shell node-js-app
 
 # outputs variables in the form:
 #
diff --git a/plugins/config/src/commands/commands.go b/plugins/config/src/commands/commands.go
index 040345e42..20590e88e 100644
--- a/plugins/config/src/commands/commands.go
+++ b/plugins/config/src/commands/commands.go
@@ -7,6 +7,9 @@ import (
 	"strconv"
 	"strings"
 
+	"github.com/dokku/dokku/plugins/common"
+	"github.com/dokku/dokku/plugins/config/src/configenv"
+
 	"github.com/dokku/dokku/plugins/config"
 	columnize "github.com/ryanuber/columnize"
 )
@@ -36,13 +39,32 @@ func main() {
 	cmd := flag.Arg(0)
 	switch cmd {
 	case "config", "config:show":
-		target := flag.Arg(1)
-		env := config.GetConfig(target, false)
-		fmt.Print(config.PrettyPrintEnvEntries("", env.Map()))
+		args := flag.NewFlagSet("config:show", flag.ExitOnError)
+		global := args.Bool("global", false, "--global: use the global environment")
+		shell := args.Bool("shell", false, "--shell: in a single-line for usage in command-line utilities [deprecated]")
+		export := args.Bool("export", false, "--export: print the env as eval-compatible exports [deprecated]")
+		args.Parse(os.Args[2:])
+		appName, _ := config.GetCommonArgs(*global, args.Args())
+		env := config.GetConfig(appName, false)
+
+		if *shell && *export {
+			common.LogFail("Only one of --shell and --export can be given")
+		}
+		if *shell {
+			fmt.Print(env.Export(configenv.Shell))
+		} else if *export {
+			fmt.Println(env.Export(configenv.Exports))
+		} else {
+			contextName := "global"
+			if appName != "" {
+				contextName = appName
+			}
+			common.LogInfo2(contextName + " config vars")
+			fmt.Println(config.PrettyPrintEnvEntries("", env.Map()))
+		}
 	case "config:help":
-		usage()
 	case "help":
-		fmt.Print(helpContent)
+		usage()
 	default:
 		dokkuNotImplementExitCode, err := strconv.Atoi(os.Getenv("DOKKU_NOT_IMPLEMENTED_EXIT"))
 		if err != nil {