diff --git a/usr.sbin/pkg_install/version/pkg_version.1 b/usr.sbin/pkg_install/version/pkg_version.1
index 9007b8b2b204..77ead1494b3f 100644
--- a/usr.sbin/pkg_install/version/pkg_version.1
+++ b/usr.sbin/pkg_install/version/pkg_version.1
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@
 .Sh SYNOPSIS
 .Nm pkg_version
 .Op Fl cdhv
+.Op Fl l Ar limchar
 .Op Ar index
 .Sh DESCRIPTION
 The
@@ -59,7 +60,7 @@ index file could not be determined.  A common reason for this message
 is that there are multiple versions of a particular software package
 installed, or that multiple versions are listed in the index file.
 Examples from the
-.Fx 2.2.6
+.Fx
 ports collection are the Tcl toolkit or the
 .Tn EMACS
 editor.
@@ -75,6 +76,15 @@ system.
 Enable debugging output.
 .It Fl h
 Print help message.
+.It Fl l
+Limit the output to those packages whose status flag matches
+.Ar limchar .
+You may specify more than one character to match in
+.Ar limchar .  
+Note that because some of the status flag characters are also special
+to the shell, it is best to quote
+.Ar limchar
+with single quotes.
 .It Fl v
 Enable verbose output.  Verbose output includes some English-text
 interpretations of the version number comparisons, as well as the
@@ -112,7 +122,7 @@ index file:
 The command below generates a report against
 the version numbers in the on-line ports collection:
 .Pp
-.Dl % pkg_version ftp://ftp.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports-current/INDEX
+.Dl % pkg_version ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.org/pub/FreeBSD/ports-current/INDEX
 .Pp
 The command below generates a file of commands to run to update the installed
 files. It is
@@ -126,7 +136,8 @@ suggestions, and then cut-and-paste (or retype) the commands you want to run.
 .Sh AUTHOR
 .An Bruce A. Mah Aq bmah@ca.sandia.gov
 .Sh CONTRIBUTORS
-.An Nik Clayton Aq nik@freebsd.org
+.An Nik Clayton Aq nik@FreeBSD.org ,
+.An Dominic Mitchell Aq dom@palmerharvey.co.uk
 .Sh BUGS
 There should be a better way of dealing with packages that
 can have more than one installed version.
diff --git a/usr.sbin/pkg_install/version/pkg_version.pl b/usr.sbin/pkg_install/version/pkg_version.pl
index b1079f63be46..b8ef76709e70 100755
--- a/usr.sbin/pkg_install/version/pkg_version.pl
+++ b/usr.sbin/pkg_install/version/pkg_version.pl
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@ $ShowCommandsFlag = 0;
 $DebugFlag = 0;
 $VerboseFlag = 0;
 $CommentChar = "#";
+$LimitFlag = "";
 
 #
 # CompareVersions
@@ -124,6 +125,7 @@ Usage: pkg_version [-c] [-d debug] [-h] [-v] [index]
 -c              Show commands to update installed packages
 -d debug	Debugging output (debug controls level of output)
 -h		Help (this message)
+-l limchar	Limit output
 -v		Verbose output
 index		URL or filename of index file
 		(Default is $IndexFile)
@@ -133,7 +135,7 @@ EOF
 #
 # Parse command-line arguments, deal with them
 #
-if (!getopts('cdhv') || ($opt_h)) {
+if (!getopts('cdhl:v') || ($opt_h)) {
     &PrintHelp();
     exit;
 }
@@ -143,6 +145,9 @@ if ($opt_c) {
 if ($opt_d) {
     $DebugFlag = $opt_d;
 }
+if ($opt_l) {
+    $LimitFlag = $opt_l;
+}
 if ($opt_v) {
     $VerboseFlag = 1;
 }
@@ -258,7 +263,11 @@ foreach $packageName (sort keys %currentPackages) {
 	$Comment = "unknown in index";
     }
 
-    write;
+    if ($LimitFlag) {
+	write if $versionCode =~ m/[$LimitFlag]/o;
+    } else {
+	write;
+    }
 }
 
 exit 0;