diff --git a/bin/test b/bin/test
index 7a95cf0aaa6d..671227c8e3fe 100755
--- a/bin/test
+++ b/bin/test
@@ -17,6 +17,32 @@ import re
 from get_sympy import path_hack
 path_hack()
 
+# callback to support variable length argument in optparse
+# docs.python.org/2/library/optparse.html#callback-example-6-variable-arguments
+def vararg_callback(option, opt_str, value, parser):
+    assert value is None
+    value = []
+
+    def floatable(str):
+        try:
+            float(str)
+            return True
+        except ValueError:
+            return False
+
+    for arg in parser.rargs:
+        # stop on --foo like options
+        if arg[:2] == "--" and len(arg) > 2:
+            break
+        # stop on -a, but not on -3 or -3.0
+        if arg[:1] == "-" and len(arg) > 1 and not floatable(arg):
+            break
+        value.append(arg)
+
+    del parser.rargs[:len(value)]
+    setattr(parser.values, option.dest, value)
+
+
 parser = OptionParser()
 parser.add_option("-v", "--verbose", action="store_true", dest="verbose",
         default=False)
@@ -27,8 +53,8 @@ parser.add_option("--no-colors", action="store_false", dest="colors",
 parser.add_option("--force-colors", action="store_true", dest="force_colors",
         default=False, help="Always use colors, even if the output is not to a terminal.")
 parser.add_option("-k", dest="kw",
-        help="only run tests matching the given keyword expression",
-        metavar="KEYWORD", default="")
+        help="only run tests matching the given keyword expressions",
+        metavar="KEYWORDS", action="callback", callback=vararg_callback)
 parser.add_option("--tb", dest="tb",
         help="traceback verboseness (short/no) [default: %default]",
         metavar="TBSTYLE", default="short")
diff --git a/sympy/utilities/runtests.py b/sympy/utilities/runtests.py
index aae5e0f99766..7e789a97ffde 100644
--- a/sympy/utilities/runtests.py
+++ b/sympy/utilities/runtests.py
@@ -452,7 +452,10 @@ def _test(*paths, **kwargs):
     """
     verbose = kwargs.get("verbose", False)
     tb = kwargs.get("tb", "short")
-    kw = kwargs.get("kw", "")
+    kw = kwargs.get("kw", [])
+    # ensure that kw is a tuple (list is fine too)
+    if isinstance(kw, str):
+        kw = (kw, )
     post_mortem = kwargs.get("pdb", False)
     colors = kwargs.get("colors", True)
     force_colors = kwargs.get("force_colors", False)
@@ -1136,9 +1139,12 @@ def matches(self, x):
 
         Always returns True if self._kw is "".
         """
-        if self._kw == "":
+        if not self._kw:
             return True
-        return x.__name__.find(self._kw) != -1
+        for kw in self._kw:
+            if x.__name__.find(kw) != -1:
+                return True
+        return False
 
     def get_test_files(self, dir, pat='test_*.py'):
         """