diff --git a/cake/console/libs/help_formatter.php b/cake/console/libs/help_formatter.php
index 107fa2fa3..7af4cadf1 100644
--- a/cake/console/libs/help_formatter.php
+++ b/cake/console/libs/help_formatter.php
@@ -152,7 +152,7 @@ class HelpFormatter {
  * @param boolean $string Return the SimpleXml object or a string.  Defaults to true.
  * @return mixed. See $string
  */
-	public function xml($string = false) {
+	public function xml($string = true) {
 		$parser = $this->_parser;
 		$xml = new SimpleXmlElement('<shell></shell>');
 		$xml->addChild('commmand', $parser->command());
@@ -171,6 +171,6 @@ class HelpFormatter {
 		foreach ($parser->arguments() as $argument) {
 			$argument->xml($arguments);
 		}
-		return $xml->asXml();
+		return $string ? $xml->asXml() : $xml;
 	}
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/cake/tests/cases/console/libs/help_formatter.test.php b/cake/tests/cases/console/libs/help_formatter.test.php
index 3df204133..a957843b1 100644
--- a/cake/tests/cases/console/libs/help_formatter.test.php
+++ b/cake/tests/cases/console/libs/help_formatter.test.php
@@ -421,4 +421,20 @@ TEXT;
 TEXT;
 		$this->assertEquals(new DomDocument($expected), new DomDocument($result), 'Help does not match');
 	}
+
+/**
+ * Test xml help as object
+ *
+ * @return void
+ */
+	function testXmlHelpAsObject() {
+		$parser = new ConsoleOptionParser('mycommand', false);
+		$parser->addOption('test', array('help' => 'A test option.'))
+			->addArgument('model', array('help' => 'The model to make.', 'required' => true))
+			->addArgument('other_longer', array('help' => 'Another argument.'));
+
+		$formatter = new HelpFormatter($parser);
+		$result = $formatter->xml(false);
+		$this->assertType('SimpleXmlElement', $result);
+	}
 }