diff --git a/client/gridfs.cpp b/client/gridfs.cpp
index 5c3149f1641..93c907b9a43 100644
--- a/client/gridfs.cpp
+++ b/client/gridfs.cpp
@@ -94,6 +94,10 @@ namespace mongo {
         return _client.query( _filesNS.c_str() , emptyObj );
     }
 
+    auto_ptr<DBClientCursor> GridFS::list( BSONObj o ){
+        return _client.query( _filesNS.c_str() , o );
+    }
+
     Chunk GridFile::getChunk( int n ){
         _exists();
         BSONObjBuilder b;
diff --git a/client/gridfs.h b/client/gridfs.h
index 0f92e45ef25..5e409b9385b 100644
--- a/client/gridfs.h
+++ b/client/gridfs.h
@@ -74,6 +74,11 @@ namespace mongo {
          */
         auto_ptr<DBClientCursor> list();
 
+        /**
+         * convenience method to get all the files with a filter
+         */
+        auto_ptr<DBClientCursor> list( BSONObj query );
+
     private:
         DBClientBase& _client;
         string _filesNS;