diff --git a/CodeSniffer/CLI.php b/CodeSniffer/CLI.php
index 22858842c7..538c8c4a26 100644
--- a/CodeSniffer/CLI.php
+++ b/CodeSniffer/CLI.php
@@ -600,6 +600,17 @@ public function processLongArgument($arg, $pos)
                 }
 
                 $this->values['sniffs'] = $sniffs;
+            } else if (substr($arg, 0, 10) === 'bootstrap=') {
+                $files = explode(',', substr($arg, 10));
+                foreach ($files as $file) {
+                    if (file_exists($file) === false) {
+                        echo 'ERROR: The specified bootstrap file "'.$file.'" does not exist'.PHP_EOL.PHP_EOL;
+                        $this->printUsage();
+                        exit(2);
+                    }
+                }
+
+                $this->values['bootstrap'] = $files;
             } else if (substr($arg, 0, 12) === 'report-file=') {
                 $this->values['reportFile'] = PHP_CodeSniffer::realpath(substr($arg, 12));
 
@@ -780,6 +791,12 @@ public function process($values=array())
             $this->values = $values;
         }
 
+        if (empty($values['bootstrap']) === false) {
+            foreach ($values['bootstrap'] as $bootstrap) {
+                include $bootstrap;
+            }
+        }
+
         if ($values['generator'] !== '') {
             $phpcs = new PHP_CodeSniffer($values['verbosity']);
             if ($values['standard'] === null) {
@@ -1154,7 +1171,8 @@ public function printPHPCSUsage()
         echo '    [--severity=<severity>] [--error-severity=<severity>] [--warning-severity=<severity>]'.PHP_EOL;
         echo '    [--runtime-set key value] [--config-set key value] [--config-delete key] [--config-show]'.PHP_EOL;
         echo '    [--standard=<standard>] [--sniffs=<sniffs>] [--encoding=<encoding>]'.PHP_EOL;
-        echo '    [--extensions=<extensions>] [--ignore=<patterns>] <file> ...'.PHP_EOL;
+        echo '    [--extensions=<extensions>] [--ignore=<patterns>]'.PHP_EOL;
+        echo '    [--bootstrap=<bootstrap>] <file> ...'.PHP_EOL;
         echo '                      Set runtime value (see --config-set) '.PHP_EOL;
         echo '        -n            Do not print warnings (shortcut for --warning-severity=0)'.PHP_EOL;
         echo '        -w            Print both warnings and errors (this is the default)'.PHP_EOL;
@@ -1171,6 +1189,7 @@ public function printPHPCSUsage()
         echo '        --colors      Use colors in output'.PHP_EOL;
         echo '        --no-colors   Do not use colors in output (this is the default)'.PHP_EOL;
         echo '        <file>        One or more files and/or directories to check'.PHP_EOL;
+        echo '        <bootstrap>   A file to run before processing sniffs'.PHP_EOL;
         echo '        <encoding>    The encoding of the files being checked (default is iso-8859-1)'.PHP_EOL;
         echo '        <extensions>  A comma separated list of file extensions to check'.PHP_EOL;
         echo '                      (extension filtering only valid when checking a directory)'.PHP_EOL;
@@ -1206,7 +1225,8 @@ public function printPHPCBFUsage()
         echo '    [--standard=<standard>] [--sniffs=<sniffs>] [--suffix=<suffix>]'.PHP_EOL;
         echo '    [--severity=<severity>] [--error-severity=<severity>] [--warning-severity=<severity>]'.PHP_EOL;
         echo '    [--tab-width=<tabWidth>] [--encoding=<encoding>]'.PHP_EOL;
-        echo '    [--extensions=<extensions>] [--ignore=<patterns>] <file> ...'.PHP_EOL;
+        echo '    [--extensions=<extensions>] [--ignore=<patterns>]'.PHP_EOL;
+        echo '    [--bootstrap=<bootstrap>] <file> ...'.PHP_EOL;
         echo '        -n            Do not fix warnings (shortcut for --warning-severity=0)'.PHP_EOL;
         echo '        -w            Fix both warnings and errors (on by default)'.PHP_EOL;
         echo '        -l            Local directory only, no recursion'.PHP_EOL;
@@ -1216,6 +1236,7 @@ public function printPHPCBFUsage()
         echo '        --version     Print version information'.PHP_EOL;
         echo '        --no-patch    Do not make use of the "diff" or "patch" programs'.PHP_EOL;
         echo '        <file>        One or more files and/or directories to fix'.PHP_EOL;
+        echo '        <bootstrap>   A file to run before processing sniffs'.PHP_EOL;
         echo '        <encoding>    The encoding of the files being fixed (default is iso-8859-1)'.PHP_EOL;
         echo '        <extensions>  A comma separated list of file extensions to fix'.PHP_EOL;
         echo '                      (extension filtering only valid when checking a directory)'.PHP_EOL;