diff --git a/share/tools/create_manpage_completions.py b/share/tools/create_manpage_completions.py
index 23cef2a95..8799a3fbb 100755
--- a/share/tools/create_manpage_completions.py
+++ b/share/tools/create_manpage_completions.py
@@ -48,8 +48,8 @@ diagnostic_indent = 0
 VERY_VERBOSE, BRIEF_VERBOSE, NOT_VERBOSE = 2, 1, 0
 
 # Pick some reasonable default values for settings
-global VERBOSITY, WRITE_TO_STDOUT, DEROFF_ONLY
-VERBOSITY, WRITE_TO_STDOUT, DEROFF_ONLY = NOT_VERBOSE, False, False
+global VERBOSITY, WRITE_TO_STDOUT, DEROFF_ONLY, SAVE_FILES
+VERBOSITY, WRITE_TO_STDOUT, DEROFF_ONLY, SAVE_FILES = NOT_VERBOSE, False, False, False
 
 
 def add_diagnostic(dgn, msg_verbosity=VERY_VERBOSE):
@@ -996,8 +996,9 @@ def get_paths_from_man_locations():
 
 def usage(script_name):
     print(
-        "Usage: {0} [-v, --verbose] [-s, --stdout] [-d, --directory] [-p, --progress]"
-        " [-c, --cleanup-in] [-z] files...".format(script_name)
+        "Usage: {0} [-v, --verbose] [-s, --stdout] [-d, --directory] [-p, --progress] [-s, --save] files...".format(
+            script_name
+        )
     )
     print(
         """Command options are:
@@ -1009,6 +1010,7 @@ def usage(script_name):
      -p, --progress\tShow progress
      -c, --cleanup-in\tRemove all .fish files out of a given directory.
      -z\t\tParse using only Deroff parser.
+     -s, --save\tDo not remove files from destination directory.
     """
     )
 
@@ -1027,6 +1029,7 @@ if __name__ == "__main__":
                 "help",
                 "manpath",
                 "progress",
+                "save",
             ],
         )
     except getopt.GetoptError as err:
@@ -1059,6 +1062,8 @@ if __name__ == "__main__":
             cleanup_directories.append(value)
         elif opt in ("-z",):
             DEROFF_ONLY = True
+        elif opt in ("-s", "--save"):
+            SAVE_FILES = True
         else:
             assert False, "unhandled option"
 
@@ -1087,7 +1092,7 @@ if __name__ == "__main__":
             if e.errno != errno.EEXIST:
                 raise
 
-    if not WRITE_TO_STDOUT:
+    if not WRITE_TO_STDOUT and not SAVE_FILES:
         # Remove old generated files
         cleanup_autogenerated_completions_in_directory(output_directory)