diff --git a/main/src/main/scala/sbt/Defaults.scala b/main/src/main/scala/sbt/Defaults.scala
index 58b0df1c9..e75c97832 100755
--- a/main/src/main/scala/sbt/Defaults.scala
+++ b/main/src/main/scala/sbt/Defaults.scala
@@ -570,11 +570,20 @@ object Defaults extends BuildCommon {
 
   def selectedFilter(args: Seq[String]): Seq[String => Boolean] =
     {
-      val filters = args map GlobFilter.apply
-      if (filters.isEmpty)
+      def matches(nfs: Seq[NameFilter], s: String) = nfs.exists(_.accept(s))
+
+      val (excludeArgs, includeArgs) = args.partition(_.startsWith("-"))
+
+      val includeFilters = includeArgs map GlobFilter.apply
+      val excludeFilters = excludeArgs.map(_.substring(1)).map(GlobFilter.apply)
+
+      if (includeFilters.isEmpty && excludeArgs.isEmpty) {
         Seq(const(true))
-      else
-        filters.map { f => (s: String) => f accept s }
+      } else if (includeFilters.isEmpty) {
+        Seq({ (s: String) => !matches(excludeFilters, s) })
+      } else {
+        includeFilters.map { f => (s: String) => (f.accept(s) && !matches(excludeFilters, s)) }
+      }
     }
   def detectTests: Initialize[Task[Seq[TestDefinition]]] = (loadedTestFrameworks, compile, streams) map { (frameworkMap, analysis, s) =>
     Tests.discover(frameworkMap.values.toList, analysis, s.log)._1
@@ -896,7 +905,7 @@ object Defaults extends BuildCommon {
       selectTests ~ options
     }
 
-  def distinctParser(exs: Set[String], raw: Boolean): Parser[Seq[String]] =
+  private def distinctParser(exs: Set[String], raw: Boolean): Parser[Seq[String]] =
     {
       import DefaultParsers._
       val base = token(Space) ~> token(NotSpace - "--" examples exs)
diff --git a/main/src/test/scala/DefaultsTest.scala b/main/src/test/scala/DefaultsTest.scala
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c09a806c0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/main/src/test/scala/DefaultsTest.scala
@@ -0,0 +1,53 @@
+package sbt
+
+import java.io._
+
+import org.specs2.mutable.Specification
+
+object DefaultsTest extends Specification {
+  private def assertFiltered(filter: List[String], expected: Map[String, Boolean]) = {
+    val actual = expected.map(t => (t._1, Defaults.selectedFilter(filter).exists(fn => fn(t._1))))
+
+    actual must be equalTo (expected)
+  }
+
+  "`selectedFilter`" should {
+    "return all tests for an empty list" in {
+      assertFiltered(List(), Map("Test1" -> true, "Test2" -> true))
+    }
+
+    "work correctly with exact matches" in {
+      assertFiltered(List("Test1", "foo"), Map("Test1" -> true, "Test2" -> false, "Foo" -> false))
+    }
+
+    "work correctly with glob" in {
+      assertFiltered(List("Test*"), Map("Test1" -> true, "Test2" -> true, "Foo" -> false))
+    }
+
+    "work correctly with excludes" in {
+      assertFiltered(List("Test*", "-Test2"), Map("Test1" -> true, "Test2" -> false, "Foo" -> false))
+    }
+
+    "work correctly without includes" in {
+      assertFiltered(List("-Test2"), Map("Test1" -> true, "Test2" -> false, "Foo" -> true))
+    }
+
+    "work correctly with excluded globs" in {
+      assertFiltered(List("Test*", "-F*"), Map("Test1" -> true, "Test2" -> true, "Foo" -> false))
+    }
+
+    "cope with multiple filters" in {
+      assertFiltered(List("T*1", "T*2", "-F*"), Map("Test1" -> true, "Test2" -> true, "Foo" -> false))
+    }
+
+    "cope with multiple exclusion filters, no includes" in {
+      assertFiltered(List("-A*", "-F*"), Map("Test1" -> true, "Test2" -> true, "AAA" -> false, "Foo" -> false))
+    }
+
+    "cope with multiple exclusion filters with includes" in {
+      assertFiltered(List("T*", "-T*1", "-T*2"), Map("Test1" -> false, "Test2" -> false, "Test3" -> true))
+    }
+  }
+
+}
+
diff --git a/sbt/src/sbt-test/tests/test-exclude/project/Build.scala b/sbt/src/sbt-test/tests/test-exclude/project/Build.scala
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..7f2f30f93
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sbt/src/sbt-test/tests/test-exclude/project/Build.scala
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+import sbt._
+import Keys._
+import Defaults._
+
+object B extends Build {
+	lazy val root = Project("root", file("."), settings = defaultSettings ++ Seq(
+		libraryDependencies += "org.scalatest" %% "scalatest" % "1.9.1" % "test",
+		parallelExecution in test := false
+	))
+}
diff --git a/sbt/src/sbt-test/tests/test-exclude/src/test/scala/Test.scala b/sbt/src/sbt-test/tests/test-exclude/src/test/scala/Test.scala
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..c7b0235e2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sbt/src/sbt-test/tests/test-exclude/src/test/scala/Test.scala
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+import java.io.File
+import org.scalatest.FlatSpec
+import org.scalatest.matchers.ShouldMatchers
+
+class Test1 extends FlatSpec with ShouldMatchers {
+  "a test" should "pass" in {
+    new File("target/Test1.run").createNewFile()
+  }
+}
+
+class Test2 extends FlatSpec with ShouldMatchers {
+  "a test" should "pass" in {
+    new File("target/Test2.run").createNewFile()
+  }
+}
diff --git a/sbt/src/sbt-test/tests/test-exclude/test b/sbt/src/sbt-test/tests/test-exclude/test
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..913c97312
--- /dev/null
+++ b/sbt/src/sbt-test/tests/test-exclude/test
@@ -0,0 +1,61 @@
+# Test1 & Test2 create files Test1.run & Test2.run respectively
+
+# no parameters
+> test-only
+$ exists target/Test1.run
+$ exists target/Test2.run
+
+$ delete target/Test1.run
+$ delete target/Test2.run
+
+
+# with explicit match
+> test-only Test1*
+$ exists target/Test1.run
+-$ exists target/Test2.run
+
+$ delete target/Test1.run
+
+
+# with explicit match and exclusion
+> test-only Test* -Test1
+-$ exists target/Test1.run
+$ exists target/Test2.run
+
+$ delete target/Test2.run
+
+
+# with explicit match and exclusion
+> test-only Test* -Test2
+$ exists target/Test1.run
+-$ exists target/Test2.run
+
+$ delete target/Test1.run
+
+
+# with only exclusion
+> test-only -Test2
+$ exists target/Test1.run
+-$ exists target/Test2.run
+
+$ delete target/Test1.run
+
+
+# with only exclusion
+> test-only -Test1
+-$ exists target/Test1.run
+$ exists target/Test2.run
+
+$ delete target/Test2.run
+
+
+# with only glob exclusion
+> test-only -Test*
+-$ exists target/Test1.run
+-$ exists target/Test2.run
+
+
+# with only glob exclusion
+> test-only -T*1 -T*2
+-$ exists target/Test1.run
+-$ exists target/Test2.run