diff --git a/Doc/library/dis.rst b/Doc/library/dis.rst
index 468ce92cf19..a546f68df09 100644
--- a/Doc/library/dis.rst
+++ b/Doc/library/dis.rst
@@ -109,7 +109,8 @@ object isn't useful:
 .. function:: show_code(x, *, file=None)
 
    Print detailed code object information for the supplied function, method,
-   source code string or code object to stdout.
+   source code string or code object to *file* (or ``sys.stdout`` if *file*
+   is not specified).
 
    This is a convenient shorthand for ``print(code_info(x), file=file)``,
    intended for interactive exploration at the interpreter prompt.
diff --git a/Lib/dis.py b/Lib/dis.py
index ca4094c1bb7..0d62c0828cc 100644
--- a/Lib/dis.py
+++ b/Lib/dis.py
@@ -146,7 +146,10 @@ def _format_code_info(co):
     return "\n".join(lines)
 
 def show_code(co, *, file=None):
-    """Print details of methods, functions, or code to stdout."""
+    """Print details of methods, functions, or code to *file*.
+
+    If *file* is not provided, the output is printed on stdout.
+    """
     print(code_info(co), file=file)
 
 _Instruction = collections.namedtuple("_Instruction",