diff --git a/build/commands/lib/util.js b/build/commands/lib/util.js
index f3d8777ce0b6..43fea119c053 100755
--- a/build/commands/lib/util.js
+++ b/build/commands/lib/util.js
@@ -512,7 +512,7 @@ const util = {
     let cmd_options = config.defaultOptions
     cmd_options.cwd = config.braveCoreDir
     cmd_options = mergeWithDefault(cmd_options)
-    util.run('vpython', [path.join(config.braveCoreDir, 'build', 'commands', 'scripts', 'format.py')], cmd_options)
+    util.run('vpython', [path.join(config.braveCoreDir, 'build', 'commands', 'scripts', 'format.py'), options.full ? '--full' : ''], cmd_options)
   },
 
 
diff --git a/build/commands/scripts/commands.js b/build/commands/scripts/commands.js
index 21493a5ab30b..622a09f84f8c 100755
--- a/build/commands/scripts/commands.js
+++ b/build/commands/scripts/commands.js
@@ -208,6 +208,7 @@ program
 
 program
   .command('format')
+  .option('--full', 'format all lines in changed files instead of only the changed lines')
   .action(util.format)
 
 program
diff --git a/build/commands/scripts/format.py b/build/commands/scripts/format.py
index d9e19866c184..197a3b03b066 100644
--- a/build/commands/scripts/format.py
+++ b/build/commands/scripts/format.py
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@
 def main(args):
   """Runs clang-format and gn format on the current changelist."""
   parser = git_cl.OptionParser()
-  options, args = parser.parse_args(args)
+  parser.parse_args([])
 
   # Change the current working directory before calling so that it
   # shows the correct base.
@@ -27,7 +27,8 @@ def main(args):
   previous_cwd = os.getcwd()
   os.chdir(settings.GetRoot())
   try:
-      cmd = ['cl', 'format', '--full'] + args
+      cmd = ['cl', 'format'] + args
+      print('git ' + ' '.join(cmd))
       git_cl.RunGit(cmd)
   except:
     e = sys.exc_info()[1]
diff --git a/build/commands/scripts/lint.py b/build/commands/scripts/lint.py
index e823c8812db3..cb6fae1a449c 100644
--- a/build/commands/scripts/lint.py
+++ b/build/commands/scripts/lint.py
@@ -18,8 +18,8 @@
 import git_cl
 import git_common
 
-def HasFormatErrors():
-    print('Running git cl format and gn format...')
+def HasFormatErrors(base_commit):
+    print('Running git cl format and gn format on the diff from %s...' % base_commit)
     # For more options, see vendor/depot_tools/git_cl.py
     cmd = ['cl', 'format', '--diff']
     diff = git_cl.RunGit(cmd)
@@ -55,11 +55,11 @@ def main(args):
 
   # Check for clang/gn format errors.
   cl = git_cl.Changelist()
+  upstream_branch = cl.GetUpstreamBranch()
+  upstream_commit = git_cl.RunGit(['merge-base', 'HEAD', upstream_branch])
   try:
-    if HasFormatErrors():
-      upstream_branch = cl.GetUpstreamBranch()
-      upstream_commit = git_cl.RunGit(['merge-base', 'HEAD', upstream_branch])
-      print('Format check failed against commit %s. Run npm format to fix.' % upstream_commit)
+    if HasFormatErrors(upstream_commit):
+      print('Format check failed. Run npm format to fix.')
       exit_code = 1
   except:
     e = sys.exc_info()[1]
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ def main(args):
   if exit_code == 0:
     print('Format check succeeded.')
 
-  print('Running lint...')
+  print('Running cpplint...')
   try:
     files = cl.GetAffectedFiles(git_common.get_or_create_merge_base(cl.GetBranch(), options.base_branch))
     if not files:
@@ -98,7 +98,7 @@ def main(args):
         print('Skipping file %s' % filename)
   finally:
     os.chdir(previous_cwd)
-  print('Total errors found: %d\n' % cpplint._cpplint_state.error_count)
+  print('cpplint errors found: %d\n' % cpplint._cpplint_state.error_count)
   if cpplint._cpplint_state.error_count != 0:
     return 1
   return exit_code