diff --git a/discover/grub2/builtins.c b/discover/grub2/builtins.c
index ab6b0ec8..7cac9f13 100644
--- a/discover/grub2/builtins.c
+++ b/discover/grub2/builtins.c
@@ -115,6 +115,21 @@ static const struct option search_options[] = {
 		.has_arg = required_argument,
 		.val = 's',
 	},
+	{
+		.name = "file",
+		.has_arg = no_argument,
+		.val = 'f',
+	},
+	{
+		.name = "label",
+		.has_arg = no_argument,
+		.val = 'l',
+	},
+	{
+		.name = "fs-uuid",
+		.has_arg = no_argument,
+		.val = 'u',
+	},
 	{ 0 },
 };
 
@@ -122,13 +137,23 @@ static int builtin_search(struct grub2_script *script,
 		void *data __attribute__((unused)),
 		int argc, char *argv[])
 {
-	const char *env_var, *spec;
+	const char *env_var, *spec, *res;
+	struct discover_device *dev;
+	enum {
+		LOOKUP_UUID = 'u',
+		LOOKUP_LABEL = 'l',
+		LOOKUP_FILE = 'f',
+	} lookup_type;
 
 	env_var = "root";
 	optind = 0;
 
+	/* Default to UUID, for backwards compat with earlier petitboot
+	 * versions. This argument is non-optional in GRUB. */
+	lookup_type = LOOKUP_UUID;
+
 	for (;;) {
-		int c = getopt_long(argc, argv, ":", search_options, NULL);
+		int c = getopt_long(argc, argv, ":flu", search_options, NULL);
 		if (c == -1)
 			break;
 
@@ -136,6 +161,11 @@ static int builtin_search(struct grub2_script *script,
 		case 's':
 			env_var = optarg;
 			break;
+		case LOOKUP_UUID:
+		case LOOKUP_LABEL:
+		case LOOKUP_FILE:
+			lookup_type = c;
+			break;
 		case '?':
 		case ':':
 			break;
@@ -149,8 +179,27 @@ static int builtin_search(struct grub2_script *script,
 		return -1;
 
 	spec = argv[optind];
+	res = NULL;
+
+	switch (lookup_type) {
+	case LOOKUP_UUID:
+		dev = device_lookup_by_uuid(script->ctx->handler,
+				spec);
+		res = dev ? dev->device->id : spec;
+		break;
+	case LOOKUP_LABEL:
+		dev = device_lookup_by_label(script->ctx->handler,
+				spec);
+		if (dev)
+			res = dev->device->id;
+		break;
+	case LOOKUP_FILE:
+		/* not yet implemented */
+		break;
+	}
 
-	script_env_set(script, env_var, spec);
+	if (res)
+		script_env_set(script, env_var, res);
 
 	return 0;
 }
diff --git a/test/parser/Makefile.am b/test/parser/Makefile.am
index df9c539b..f5985d65 100644
--- a/test/parser/Makefile.am
+++ b/test/parser/Makefile.am
@@ -30,6 +30,8 @@ parser_TESTS = \
 	test/parser/test-grub2-single-line-if \
 	test/parser/test-grub2-pos-param \
 	test/parser/test-grub2-search-args \
+	test/parser/test-grub2-search-uuid \
+	test/parser/test-grub2-search-label \
 	test/parser/test-grub2-load-env \
 	test/parser/test-grub2-save-env \
 	test/parser/test-grub2-save-env-dash-f \
diff --git a/test/parser/test-grub2-search-label.c b/test/parser/test-grub2-search-label.c
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..b9ee0349
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/parser/test-grub2-search-label.c
@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+/* check for grub2 search command, searching by partition label */
+
+#include "parser-test.h"
+
+#if 0 /* PARSER_EMBEDDED_CONFIG */
+
+# valid label
+search --set=v1 --label testlabel
+
+v2=prev
+# invalid label: does not alter v2
+search --set=v2 --label invalidlabel
+
+menuentry $v1 {
+    linux /vmlinux
+}
+
+menuentry $v2 {
+    linux /vmlinux
+}
+
+#endif
+
+void run_test(struct parser_test *test)
+{
+	struct discover_boot_option *opt;
+	struct discover_context *ctx;
+	struct discover_device *dev;
+
+	ctx = test->ctx;
+
+	dev = test_create_device(test, "testdev");
+	dev->label = "testlabel";
+	device_handler_add_device(test->handler, dev);
+
+	test_read_conf_embedded(test, "/grub/grub.cfg");
+
+	test_run_parser(test, "grub2");
+
+	check_boot_option_count(ctx, 2);
+
+	opt = get_boot_option(ctx, 0);
+	check_name(opt, "testdev");
+
+	opt = get_boot_option(ctx, 1);
+	check_name(opt, "prev");
+}
diff --git a/test/parser/test-grub2-search-uuid.c b/test/parser/test-grub2-search-uuid.c
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..7eacd1dd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/parser/test-grub2-search-uuid.c
@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+/* check for grub2 search command, searching by FS UUID */
+
+#include "parser-test.h"
+
+#if 0 /* PARSER_EMBEDDED_CONFIG */
+
+# valid UUID
+search --set=v1 --fs-uuid ee0cc6fa-1dba-48f2-8f5b-19e4b8de8c37
+
+# invalid UUID: will fall back to passing the UUID through
+search --set=v2 --fs-uuid 92b0da57-6e04-4e54-960b-85e6bb060433
+
+# no 'type' argument defaults to UUID search
+search --set=v3 ee0cc6fa-1dba-48f2-8f5b-19e4b8de8c37
+
+menuentry $v1 {
+    linux /vmlinux
+}
+
+menuentry $v2 {
+    linux /vmlinux
+}
+
+menuentry $v3 {
+    linux /vmlinux
+}
+#endif
+
+void run_test(struct parser_test *test)
+{
+	struct discover_boot_option *opt;
+	struct discover_context *ctx;
+	struct discover_device *dev;
+
+	ctx = test->ctx;
+
+	dev = test_create_device(test, "testdev");
+	dev->uuid = "ee0cc6fa-1dba-48f2-8f5b-19e4b8de8c37";
+	device_handler_add_device(test->handler, dev);
+
+	test_read_conf_embedded(test, "/grub/grub.cfg");
+
+	test_run_parser(test, "grub2");
+
+	check_boot_option_count(ctx, 3);
+
+	opt = get_boot_option(ctx, 0);
+	check_name(opt, dev->device->id);
+
+	opt = get_boot_option(ctx, 1);
+	check_name(opt, "92b0da57-6e04-4e54-960b-85e6bb060433");
+
+	opt = get_boot_option(ctx, 2);
+	check_name(opt, dev->device->id);
+}