diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 100fd588..78c8946f 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -109,9 +109,15 @@ elements (it is by default), and define a `DEFAULT_USER` in your `~/.zshrc`:
 
 By default, the `vcs` segment will provide quite a bit of information. If you
 would also like for it to display the current hash / changeset, simply define
-`POWERLEVEL9K_SHOW_CHANGESET` in your `~/.zshrc`:
+`POWERLEVEL9K_SHOW_CHANGESET` in your `~/.zshrc`. If activated, it will show
+the first 12 characters of the changeset id. To change the amount of characters,
+set `POWERLEVEL9K_CHANGESET_HASH_LENTH` to any value you want.
+Example:
 
+    # enable the vcs segment in general
     POWERLEVEL9K_SHOW_CHANGESET=true
+    # just show the 6 first characters of changeset
+    POWERLEVEL9K_CHANGESET_HASH_LENGTH=6
 
 ### Styling
 
diff --git a/powerlevel9k.zsh-theme b/powerlevel9k.zsh-theme
index 86c16ecb..c8a9ac89 100644
--- a/powerlevel9k.zsh-theme
+++ b/powerlevel9k.zsh-theme
@@ -53,8 +53,13 @@ autoload -Uz vcs_info
 local VCS_WORKDIR_DIRTY=false
 local VCS_CHANGESET_PREFIX=''
 if [[ "$POWERLEVEL9K_SHOW_CHANGESET" == true ]]; then
-  # Just display the first 12 characters of our changeset-ID.
-  VCS_CHANGESET_PREFIX="%F{$DEFAULT_COLOR_DARK}%12.12i@%f"
+  # Default: Just display the first 12 characters of our changeset-ID.
+  local VCS_CHANGESET_HASH_LENGTH=12
+  if [[ -n $POWERLEVEL9K_CHANGESET_HASH_LENGTH ]]; then
+    VCS_CHANGESET_HASH_LENGTH=$POWERLEVEL9K_CHANGESET_HASH_LENGTH
+  fi
+
+  VCS_CHANGESET_PREFIX="%F{$DEFAULT_COLOR_DARK}%0.$VCS_CHANGESET_HASH_LENGTH""i@%f"
 fi
 
 zstyle ':vcs_info:*' enable git hg