diff --git a/Documentation/git-rev-parse.txt b/Documentation/git-rev-parse.txt
index 82045a2522..dc829b333d 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-rev-parse.txt
+++ b/Documentation/git-rev-parse.txt
@@ -112,6 +112,9 @@ OPTIONS
 --remotes::
 	Show tag refs found in `$GIT_DIR/refs/remotes`.
 
+--show-toplevel::
+	Show the absolute path of the top-level directory.
+
 --show-prefix::
 	When the command is invoked from a subdirectory, show the
 	path of the current directory relative to the top-level
diff --git a/builtin-rev-parse.c b/builtin-rev-parse.c
index 37d0233521..cbe5b428ad 100644
--- a/builtin-rev-parse.c
+++ b/builtin-rev-parse.c
@@ -581,6 +581,12 @@ int cmd_rev_parse(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 				for_each_remote_ref(show_reference, NULL);
 				continue;
 			}
+			if (!strcmp(arg, "--show-toplevel")) {
+				const char *work_tree = get_git_work_tree();
+				if (work_tree)
+					puts(work_tree);
+				continue;
+			}
 			if (!strcmp(arg, "--show-prefix")) {
 				if (prefix)
 					puts(prefix);
diff --git a/git-sh-setup.sh b/git-sh-setup.sh
index dfcb8078f5..d56426dd39 100755
--- a/git-sh-setup.sh
+++ b/git-sh-setup.sh
@@ -120,20 +120,11 @@ is_bare_repository () {
 }
 
 cd_to_toplevel () {
-	cdup=$(git rev-parse --show-cdup)
-	if test ! -z "$cdup"
-	then
-		# The "-P" option says to follow "physical" directory
-		# structure instead of following symbolic links.  When cdup is
-		# "../", this means following the ".." entry in the current
-		# directory instead textually removing a symlink path element
-		# from the PWD shell variable.  The "-P" behavior is more
-		# consistent with the C-style chdir used by most of Git.
-		cd -P "$cdup" || {
-			echo >&2 "Cannot chdir to $cdup, the toplevel of the working tree"
-			exit 1
-		}
-	fi
+	cdup=$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel) &&
+	cd "$cdup" || {
+		echo >&2 "Cannot chdir to $cdup, the toplevel of the working tree"
+		exit 1
+	}
 }
 
 require_work_tree () {