diff --git a/src/scripts/pycompare.py b/src/scripts/pycompare.py
index 01ea0144260265d0e3f6ac79d430b2dd00520229..b4b0a0c39702116396203f7d401778ce134e28d1 100755
--- a/src/scripts/pycompare.py
+++ b/src/scripts/pycompare.py
@@ -51,7 +51,13 @@ number_reg = re.compile(r'-?[0-9]\.[0-9]+E?[-+][0-9]{2,5}')
 #
 # \returns errors: `int` Number of detected error-level inconsistencies.
 def main():
-    config = parse_arguments()
+    config = {}
+    try:
+        config = parse_arguments()
+    except ValueError as ex:
+        print(ex)
+        print("\nType \"pycompare.py --help\" to get more detailed help.")
+        exit(1)
     errors, warnings, noisy = (0, 0, 0)
     if config['help_mode'] or len(argv) == 1:
         config['help_mode'] = True
@@ -527,7 +533,7 @@ def parse_arguments():
         elif (arg.startswith("--warn")):
             config['warning_threshold'] = float(split_arg[1])
         else:
-            raise Exception("Unrecognized argument \'{0:s}\'".format(arg))
+            raise ValueError("Unrecognized argument \'{0:s}\'".format(arg))
         arg_index += 1
     return config