diff --git a/Readme.md b/Readme.md
index 63c443c40..f1b1b4c3a 100644
--- a/Readme.md
+++ b/Readme.md
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@ Read this in other languages: English | [简体中文](./Readme_zh-CN.md)
     - [createCommand()](#createcommand)
     - [Node options such as `--harmony`](#node-options-such-as---harmony)
     - [Debugging stand-alone executable subcommands](#debugging-stand-alone-executable-subcommands)
+    - [Display error](#display-error)
     - [Override exit and output handling](#override-exit-and-output-handling)
     - [Additional documentation](#additional-documentation)
   - [Support](#support)
@@ -1003,6 +1004,18 @@ the inspector port is incremented by 1 for the spawned subcommand.
 
 If you are using VSCode to debug executable subcommands you need to set the `"autoAttachChildProcesses": true` flag in your launch.json configuration.
 
+### Display error
+
+This routine is available to invoke the Commander error handling for your own error conditions. (See also the next section about exit handling.)
+
+As well as the error message, you can optionally specify the `exitCode` (used with `process.exit`)
+and `code` (used with `CommanderError`).
+
+```js
+program.exit('Password must be longer than four characters');
+program.exit('Custom processing has failed', { exitCode: 2, code: 'my.custom.error' });
+```
+
 ### Override exit and output handling
 
 By default Commander calls `process.exit` when it detects errors, or after displaying the help or version. You can override
diff --git a/lib/command.js b/lib/command.js
index ffd8a1d46..aa0d7c03d 100644
--- a/lib/command.js
+++ b/lib/command.js
@@ -538,7 +538,7 @@ Expecting one of '${allowedValues.join("', '")}'`);
         } catch (err) {
           if (err.code === 'commander.invalidArgument') {
             const message = `${invalidValueMessage} ${err.message}`;
-            this._displayError(err.exitCode, err.code, message);
+            this.error(message, { exitCode: err.exitCode, code: err.code });
           }
           throw err;
         }
@@ -1096,7 +1096,7 @@ Expecting one of '${allowedValues.join("', '")}'`);
         } catch (err) {
           if (err.code === 'commander.invalidArgument') {
             const message = `error: command-argument value '${value}' is invalid for argument '${argument.name()}'. ${err.message}`;
-            this._displayError(err.exitCode, err.code, message);
+            this.error(message, { exitCode: err.exitCode, code: err.code });
           }
           throw err;
         }
@@ -1475,11 +1475,15 @@ Expecting one of '${allowedValues.join("', '")}'`);
   }
 
   /**
-   * Internal bottleneck for handling of parsing errors.
+   * Display error message and exit (or call exitOverride).
    *
-   * @api private
+   * @param {string} message
+   * @param {Object} [errorOptions]
+   * @param {string} [errorOptions.code] - an id string representing the error
+   * @param {number} [errorOptions.exitCode] - used with process.exit
    */
-  _displayError(exitCode, code, message) {
+  error(message, errorOptions) {
+    // output handling
     this._outputConfiguration.outputError(`${message}\n`, this._outputConfiguration.writeErr);
     if (typeof this._showHelpAfterError === 'string') {
       this._outputConfiguration.writeErr(`${this._showHelpAfterError}\n`);
@@ -1487,6 +1491,11 @@ Expecting one of '${allowedValues.join("', '")}'`);
       this._outputConfiguration.writeErr('\n');
       this.outputHelp({ error: true });
     }
+
+    // exit handling
+    const config = errorOptions || {};
+    const exitCode = config.exitCode || 1;
+    const code = config.code || 'commander.error';
     this._exit(exitCode, code, message);
   }
 
@@ -1523,7 +1532,7 @@ Expecting one of '${allowedValues.join("', '")}'`);
 
   missingArgument(name) {
     const message = `error: missing required argument '${name}'`;
-    this._displayError(1, 'commander.missingArgument', message);
+    this.error(message, { code: 'commander.missingArgument' });
   }
 
   /**
@@ -1535,7 +1544,7 @@ Expecting one of '${allowedValues.join("', '")}'`);
 
   optionMissingArgument(option) {
     const message = `error: option '${option.flags}' argument missing`;
-    this._displayError(1, 'commander.optionMissingArgument', message);
+    this.error(message, { code: 'commander.optionMissingArgument' });
   }
 
   /**
@@ -1547,7 +1556,7 @@ Expecting one of '${allowedValues.join("', '")}'`);
 
   missingMandatoryOptionValue(option) {
     const message = `error: required option '${option.flags}' not specified`;
-    this._displayError(1, 'commander.missingMandatoryOptionValue', message);
+    this.error(message, { code: 'commander.missingMandatoryOptionValue' });
   }
 
   /**
@@ -1576,7 +1585,7 @@ Expecting one of '${allowedValues.join("', '")}'`);
     }
 
     const message = `error: unknown option '${flag}'${suggestion}`;
-    this._displayError(1, 'commander.unknownOption', message);
+    this.error(message, { code: 'commander.unknownOption' });
   }
 
   /**
@@ -1593,7 +1602,7 @@ Expecting one of '${allowedValues.join("', '")}'`);
     const s = (expected === 1) ? '' : 's';
     const forSubcommand = this.parent ? ` for '${this.name()}'` : '';
     const message = `error: too many arguments${forSubcommand}. Expected ${expected} argument${s} but got ${receivedArgs.length}.`;
-    this._displayError(1, 'commander.excessArguments', message);
+    this.error(message, { code: 'commander.excessArguments' });
   }
 
   /**
@@ -1617,7 +1626,7 @@ Expecting one of '${allowedValues.join("', '")}'`);
     }
 
     const message = `error: unknown command '${unknownName}'${suggestion}`;
-    this._displayError(1, 'commander.unknownCommand', message);
+    this.error(message, { code: 'commander.unknownCommand' });
   }
 
   /**
diff --git a/tests/command.error.test.js b/tests/command.error.test.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..640670124
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/command.error.test.js
@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
+const commander = require('../');
+
+test('when error called with message then message displayed on stderr', () => {
+  const exitSpy = jest.spyOn(process, 'exit').mockImplementation(() => { });
+  const stderrSpy = jest.spyOn(process.stderr, 'write').mockImplementation(() => { });
+
+  const program = new commander.Command();
+  const message = 'Goodbye';
+  program.error(message);
+
+  expect(stderrSpy).toHaveBeenCalledWith(`${message}\n`);
+  stderrSpy.mockRestore();
+  exitSpy.mockRestore();
+});
+
+test('when error called with no exitCode then process.exit(1)', () => {
+  const exitSpy = jest.spyOn(process, 'exit').mockImplementation(() => { });
+
+  const program = new commander.Command();
+  program.configureOutput({
+    writeErr: () => {}
+  });
+
+  program.error('Goodbye');
+
+  expect(exitSpy).toHaveBeenCalledWith(1);
+  exitSpy.mockRestore();
+});
+
+test('when error called with exitCode 2 then process.exit(2)', () => {
+  const exitSpy = jest.spyOn(process, 'exit').mockImplementation(() => { });
+
+  const program = new commander.Command();
+  program.configureOutput({
+    writeErr: () => {}
+  });
+  program.error('Goodbye', { exitCode: 2 });
+
+  expect(exitSpy).toHaveBeenCalledWith(2);
+  exitSpy.mockRestore();
+});
+
+test('when error called with code and exitOverride then throws with code', () => {
+  const program = new commander.Command();
+  let errorThrown;
+  program
+    .exitOverride((err) => { errorThrown = err; throw err; })
+    .configureOutput({
+      writeErr: () => {}
+    });
+
+  const code = 'commander.test';
+  expect(() => {
+    program.error('Goodbye', { code });
+  }).toThrow();
+  expect(errorThrown.code).toEqual(code);
+});
diff --git a/tests/command.exitOverride.test.js b/tests/command.exitOverride.test.js
index bdd7fe7c9..09b7b4989 100644
--- a/tests/command.exitOverride.test.js
+++ b/tests/command.exitOverride.test.js
@@ -331,6 +331,21 @@ describe('.exitOverride and error details', () => {
 
     expectCommanderError(caughtErr, 1, 'commander.invalidArgument', "error: command-argument value 'green' is invalid for argument 'n'. NO");
   });
+
+  test('when call error() then throw CommanderError', () => {
+    const program = new commander.Command();
+    program
+      .exitOverride();
+
+    let caughtErr;
+    try {
+      program.error('message');
+    } catch (err) {
+      caughtErr = err;
+    }
+
+    expectCommanderError(caughtErr, 1, 'commander.error', 'message');
+  });
 });
 
 test('when no override and error then exit(1)', () => {
diff --git a/typings/index.d.ts b/typings/index.d.ts
index f47fddee3..cb7bf608b 100644
--- a/typings/index.d.ts
+++ b/typings/index.d.ts
@@ -31,6 +31,13 @@ export class InvalidArgumentError extends CommanderError {
 }
 export { InvalidArgumentError as InvalidOptionArgumentError }; // deprecated old name
 
+export interface ErrorOptions { // optional parameter for error()
+  /** an id string representing the error */
+  code?: string;
+  /** suggested exit code which could be used with process.exit */
+  exitCode?: number;
+}
+
 export class Argument {
   description: string;
   required: boolean;
@@ -387,6 +394,11 @@ export class Command {
    */
   exitOverride(callback?: (err: CommanderError) => never|void): this;
 
+  /**
+   * Display error message and exit (or call exitOverride).
+   */
+  error(message: string, errorOptions?: ErrorOptions): never;
+
   /**
    * You can customise the help with a subclass of Help by overriding createHelp,
    * or by overriding Help properties using configureHelp().
diff --git a/typings/index.test-d.ts b/typings/index.test-d.ts
index 858c8f0bd..a5536e542 100644
--- a/typings/index.test-d.ts
+++ b/typings/index.test-d.ts
@@ -75,6 +75,12 @@ expectType<commander.Command>(program.exitOverride((err): void => {
   }
 }));
 
+// error
+expectType<never>(program.error('Goodbye'));
+expectType<never>(program.error('Goodbye', { code: 'my.error' }));
+expectType<never>(program.error('Goodbye', { exitCode: 2 }));
+expectType<never>(program.error('Goodbye', { code: 'my.error', exitCode: 2 }));
+
 // hook
 expectType<commander.Command>(program.hook('preAction', () => {}));
 expectType<commander.Command>(program.hook('postAction', () => {}));