diff --git a/docs/filters.md b/docs/filters.md
index 5fd8643e..34620e04 100644
--- a/docs/filters.md
+++ b/docs/filters.md
@@ -376,9 +376,13 @@ If the value is an Array, you can join each value with a delimiter and return it
 
 1. <var>**glue**</var> (_string_) Concatenation string to join each item in the array with.
 
-### json_encode <a name="json_encode" href="#json_encode">#</a>
+### json_encode(indent) <a name="json_encode" href="#json_encode">#</a>
 
-Return a JSON string of the variable.
+Return a JSON string of the variable, optionally pretty-printing the string if **indent** is specified.
+
+#### Arguments
+
+1. <var>**indent**</var> (_number_) _optional_ if greater than zero, the JSON will be pretty-printed using the number of spaces specified by the **indent** parameter.
 
 ### last <a name="last" href="#last">#</a>
 
diff --git a/lib/filters.js b/lib/filters.js
index 6e84b0f4..677882df 100644
--- a/lib/filters.js
+++ b/lib/filters.js
@@ -130,8 +130,8 @@ exports.join = function (input, separator) {
     return input;
 };
 
-exports.json_encode = function (input) {
-    return JSON.stringify(input);
+exports.json_encode = function (input, indent) {
+    return JSON.stringify(input, null, indent || 0);
 };
 
 exports.last = function (input) {
diff --git a/lib/filters.test.js b/lib/filters.test.js
index b7df0db2..fa8e495e 100644
--- a/lib/filters.test.js
+++ b/lib/filters.test.js
@@ -210,6 +210,7 @@ exports.join = function (test) {
 
 exports.json_encode = function (test) {
     testFilter(test, 'json_encode', { v: { foo: 'bar', baz: [1, 2, 3] }}, '{&quot;foo&quot;:&quot;bar&quot;,&quot;baz&quot;:[1,2,3]}');
+    testFilter(test, 'json_encode(2)', { v: { foo: 'bar', baz: [1, 2, 3] }}, '{\n  &quot;foo&quot;: &quot;bar&quot;,\n  &quot;baz&quot;: [\n    1,\n    2,\n    3\n  ]\n}');
     test.done();
 };