diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/kafka/admin/ListTopicCommand.scala b/core/src/main/scala/kafka/admin/ListTopicCommand.scala
index f91eca2..baeb099 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/kafka/admin/ListTopicCommand.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/kafka/admin/ListTopicCommand.scala
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ object ListTopicCommand {
 
   def main(args: Array[String]): Unit = {
     val parser = new OptionParser
-    val topicOpt = parser.accepts("topic", "REQUIRED: The topic to be deleted.")
+    val topicOpt = parser.accepts("topic", "REQUIRED: The topic to be listed. Defaults to all existing topics.")
                          .withRequiredArg
                          .describedAs("topic")
                          .ofType(classOf[String])
@@ -55,7 +55,7 @@ object ListTopicCommand {
       zkClient = new ZkClient(zkConnect, 30000, 30000, ZKStringSerializer)
 
       if (topic == "")
-        topicList = ZkUtils.getChildren(zkClient, ZkUtils.BrokerTopicsPath)
+        topicList = ZkUtils.getChildren(zkClient, ZkUtils.BrokerTopicsPath).sorted
       else
         topicList = List(topic)
 
diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/kafka/api/TopicMetadata.scala b/core/src/main/scala/kafka/api/TopicMetadata.scala
index 409de76..f822678 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/kafka/api/TopicMetadata.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/kafka/api/TopicMetadata.scala
@@ -108,6 +108,17 @@ case class PartitionMetadata(partitionId: Int,
     buffer.putInt(isr.size)
     isr.foreach(r => buffer.putInt(r.id))
   }
+
+  override def toString(): String = {
+    val partitionMetadataString = new StringBuilder
+    partitionMetadataString.append("\tpartition " + partitionId)
+    partitionMetadataString.append("\tleader: " + (if(leader.isDefined) formatBroker(leader.get) else "none"))
+    partitionMetadataString.append("\treplicas: " + replicas.map(formatBroker).mkString(","))
+    partitionMetadataString.append("\tisr: " + isr.map(formatBroker).mkString(","))
+    partitionMetadataString.toString()
+  }
+
+  private def formatBroker(broker: Broker) = broker.id + " (" + broker.host + ":" + broker.port + ")"
 }