diff --git a/user_guide.md b/user_guide.md
index fee9848dc..00b53d03c 100644
--- a/user_guide.md
+++ b/user_guide.md
@@ -313,8 +313,8 @@ rootCmd.MarkFlagsRequiredTogether("username", "password")
 You can also prevent different flags from being provided together if they represent mutually
 exclusive options such as specifying an output format as either `--json` or `--yaml` but never both:
 ```go
-rootCmd.Flags().BoolVar(&u, "json", false, "Output in JSON")
-rootCmd.Flags().BoolVar(&pw, "yaml", false, "Output in YAML")
+rootCmd.Flags().BoolVar(&ofJson, "json", false, "Output in JSON")
+rootCmd.Flags().BoolVar(&ofYaml, "yaml", false, "Output in YAML")
 rootCmd.MarkFlagsMutuallyExclusive("json", "yaml")
 ```