diff --git a/tools/perf/builtin-kmem.c b/tools/perf/builtin-kmem.c
index 64d3623d45a0..ac303ef9f2f0 100644
--- a/tools/perf/builtin-kmem.c
+++ b/tools/perf/builtin-kmem.c
@@ -662,6 +662,10 @@ static int __cmd_record(int argc, const char **argv)
 int cmd_kmem(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix __maybe_unused)
 {
 	const char * const default_sort_order = "frag,hit,bytes";
+	struct perf_data_file file = {
+		.path = input_name,
+		.mode = PERF_DATA_MODE_READ,
+	};
 	const struct option kmem_options[] = {
 	OPT_STRING('i', "input", &input_name, "file", "input file name"),
 	OPT_INCR('v', "verbose", &verbose,
@@ -675,6 +679,7 @@ int cmd_kmem(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix __maybe_unused)
 		     parse_sort_opt),
 	OPT_CALLBACK('l', "line", NULL, "num", "show n lines", parse_line_opt),
 	OPT_BOOLEAN(0, "raw-ip", &raw_ip, "show raw ip instead of symbol"),
+	OPT_BOOLEAN('f', "force", &file.force, "don't complain, do it"),
 	OPT_END()
 	};
 	const char *const kmem_subcommands[] = { "record", "stat", NULL };
@@ -683,10 +688,6 @@ int cmd_kmem(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix __maybe_unused)
 		NULL
 	};
 	struct perf_session *session;
-	struct perf_data_file file = {
-		.path = input_name,
-		.mode = PERF_DATA_MODE_READ,
-	};
 	int ret = -1;
 
 	argc = parse_options_subcommand(argc, argv, kmem_options,