diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0e8f751
--- /dev/null
+++ b/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+`tomcat` – a [TOML](https://toml.io) parser in POSIX shell
+
+## Installation
+
+### From Source
+
+Clone this repository and move the `tomcat` binary wherever your operating
+system stores locally-installed binaries. This is usually `/usr/local/bin` or
+`$HOME/.local/bin` for your user. Make sure the installation location is in your
+`$PATH`.
diff --git a/tomcat b/tomcat
index 9e503a8..7d65ff5 100755
--- a/tomcat
+++ b/tomcat
@@ -2,18 +2,13 @@
 
 set -e
 
-ARG="$(printf "%s\n" "$1" | sed -n '/-/p')"
+argv1="$1"
+argv2="$2"
 
 # check usage
 if ! test -n "$1"; then
 	printf "Usage: %s [OPTIONS] [TABLE.KEY[INDEX]] [FILE]\n" "$0" 1>&2
 	exit 64 # sysexits(3) EX_USAGE
-elif test -n "$ARG"; then
-	argv1="$2"
-	argv2="$3"
-else
-	argv1="$1"
-	argv2="$2"
 fi
 
 # test if input has a period
@@ -22,10 +17,10 @@ if test -n "$(printf "%s\n" "$argv1" | sed -n '/.*\..*/p')"; then
 	TABLE=$(printf "%s\n" "$argv1" | sed -n 's/\..*//p')
 
 	# cut out everything before the first period for KEY
-	KEY=$(printf "%s\n" "$argv1" | sed -n 's/^[^.]\+\.//p')
+	KEY=$(printf "%s\n" "$argv1" | sed -n 's/^[^.]*\.//p')
 else
-	# set key to input if there is no table specified
-	KEY=$argv1
+	# assume the argument is a table
+	TABLE="$argv1"
 fi
 
 # remove array index from KEY
@@ -42,10 +37,18 @@ else
 	TOML=$(printf "%s\n" "$argv2" | sed 's/[^"#]#\+.*//g')
 fi
 
-# set VAL to the parsed TOML
-VAL=$(printf "%s\n" "$TOML" |\
+if test -n "$TABLE"; then
+	KEYS=$(printf "%s\n" "$TOML" |\
 	      # output only lines between TABLE and the next table
-				awk "/^\[$TABLE\]/{flag=1; next} /^\[/{flag=0} flag" - |\
+					awk "/^\[$TABLE\]/{flag=1; next} /^\[/{flag=0} flag" - )
+else
+	KEYS=$(printf "%s\n" "$TOML" |\
+	      # output only lines before the first table
+					awk '1;/^\[/{exit}' - | sed -n '/^[^[]/p')
+fi
+
+# set VAL to the parsed KEYS list
+VAL=$(printf "%s\n" "$KEYS" |\
 				# remove the key from the string and delineate arrays, removing
 				# brackets, trailing commas, and leading spaces
 				sed -n "s/$KEY *= *//p" | sed 's/", "/	/g' | tr -d '[]"' |\
@@ -57,11 +60,6 @@ if test -n "$ARR"; then
 	printf "%s\n" "$VAL" | sed 's/	/\n/g' | head -n "$ARR" |\
 		tail -n 1
 else
-	if test -n "$ARG"; then
-    if [ "$1" = "-c" ] || [ "$1" = "--count" ]; then
-			VAL="$(printf "%s\n" "$VAL" | sed 's/	/\n/g' | wc -l)"
-		fi
-	fi
 	printf "%s\n" "$VAL"
 fi