diff --git a/aider/args.py b/aider/args.py
index a528c78d0..a6d5bbe6a 100644
--- a/aider/args.py
+++ b/aider/args.py
@@ -313,7 +313,7 @@ def get_parser(default_config_files, git_root):
     group.add_argument(
         "--lint",
         action="store_true",
-        help="Run the linter on all dirty files, fix problems and commit",
+        help="Lint and fix provided files, or dirty files if none provided",
         default=False,
     )
     group.add_argument(
diff --git a/aider/commands.py b/aider/commands.py
index 36d6ba626..affa5af5e 100644
--- a/aider/commands.py
+++ b/aider/commands.py
@@ -154,14 +154,14 @@ class Commands:
         self.coder.repo.commit(message=commit_message)
 
     def cmd_lint(self, args="", fnames=None):
-        "Commit, run the linter on all dirty files, fix problems and commit again"
+        "Lint and fix provided files or in-chat files if none provided"
 
         if not self.coder.repo:
             self.io.tool_error("No git repository found.")
             return
 
         if not fnames:
-            fnames = self.coder.repo.get_dirty_files()
+            fnames = self.coder.get_inchat_relative_files()
 
             if not fnames:
                 self.io.tool_error("No dirty files to lint.")
@@ -170,7 +170,7 @@ class Commands:
         lint_coder = None
         for fname in fnames:
             try:
-                errors = self.coder.linter.lint(fname, cmd=args)
+                errors = self.coder.linter.lint(fname)
             except FileNotFoundError as err:
                 self.io.tool_error(f"Unable to lint {fname}")
                 self.io.tool_error(str(err))
diff --git a/aider/linter.py b/aider/linter.py
index b2e2fd2b4..f2afe2d05 100644
--- a/aider/linter.py
+++ b/aider/linter.py
@@ -1,9 +1,9 @@
 import os
+import re
 import subprocess
 import sys
 import traceback
 import warnings
-import re
 from dataclasses import dataclass
 from pathlib import Path
 
@@ -205,9 +205,6 @@ def traverse_tree(node):
     return errors
 
 
-import re
-
-
 def find_filenames_and_linenums(text, fnames):
     """
     Search text for all occurrences of <filename>:\\d+ and make a list of them