diff --git a/src/cmd/go/alldocs.go b/src/cmd/go/alldocs.go
index 5a6a1c82cc..03a0e4f19d 100644
--- a/src/cmd/go/alldocs.go
+++ b/src/cmd/go/alldocs.go
@@ -442,11 +442,14 @@
 // command alias, described below.
 //
 // To convey to humans and machine tools that code is generated,
-// generated source should have a line early in the file that
-// matches the following regular expression (in Go syntax):
+// generated source should have a line that matches the following
+// regular expression (in Go syntax):
 //
 // 	^// Code generated .* DO NOT EDIT\.$
 //
+// The line may appear anywhere in the file, but is typically
+// placed near the beginning so it is easy to find.
+//
 // Note that go generate does not parse the file, so lines that look
 // like directives in comments or multiline strings will be treated
 // as directives.
diff --git a/src/cmd/go/internal/generate/generate.go b/src/cmd/go/internal/generate/generate.go
index 7cbc448e6d..124dbc05f5 100644
--- a/src/cmd/go/internal/generate/generate.go
+++ b/src/cmd/go/internal/generate/generate.go
@@ -49,11 +49,14 @@ that can be run locally. It must either be in the shell path
 command alias, described below.
 
 To convey to humans and machine tools that code is generated,
-generated source should have a line early in the file that
-matches the following regular expression (in Go syntax):
+generated source should have a line that matches the following
+regular expression (in Go syntax):
 
 	^// Code generated .* DO NOT EDIT\.$
 
+The line may appear anywhere in the file, but is typically
+placed near the beginning so it is easy to find.
+
 Note that go generate does not parse the file, so lines that look
 like directives in comments or multiline strings will be treated
 as directives.