diff --git a/app/test-pmd/config.c b/app/test-pmd/config.c
index 9669cbd..d8649f1 100644
--- a/app/test-pmd/config.c
+++ b/app/test-pmd/config.c
@@ -2587,6 +2587,114 @@ set_fwd_ports_list(unsigned int *portlist, unsigned int nb_pt)
 	}
 }
 
+/**
+ * Parse the user input and obtain the list of forwarding ports
+ *
+ * @param[in] list
+ *   String containing the user input. User can specify
+ *   in these formats 1,3,5 or 1-3 or 1-2,5 or 3,5-6.
+ *   For example, if the user wants to use all the available
+ *   4 ports in his system, then the input can be 0-3 or 0,1,2,3.
+ *   If the user wants to use only the ports 1,2 then the input
+ *   is 1,2.
+ *   valid characters are '-' and ','
+ *   invalid chars like '.' or '#' will result in
+ *   EAL: Error - exiting with code: 1
+ *     Cause: Invalid fwd port list
+ * @param[out] values
+ *   This array will be filled with a list of port IDs
+ *   based on the user input
+ *   Note that duplicate entries are discarded and only the first
+ *   count entries in this array are port IDs and all the rest
+ *   will contain default values
+ * @param[in] maxsize
+ *   This parameter denotes 2 things
+ *   1) Number of elements in the values array
+ *   2) Maximum value of each element in the values array
+ * @return
+ *   -returns total count of parsed port IDs
+ */
+static unsigned int
+parse_port_list(const char *list, unsigned int *values, unsigned int maxsize)
+{
+	unsigned int count = 0;
+	char *end = NULL;
+	int min, max;
+	int value, i;
+	unsigned int marked[maxsize];
+
+	if (list == NULL || values == NULL)
+		return -1;
+
+	for (i = 0; i < (int)maxsize; i++)
+		marked[i] = 0;
+
+	min = INT_MAX;
+
+	do {
+		/*Remove the blank spaces if any*/
+		while (isblank(*list))
+			list++;
+		if (*list == '\0')
+			break;
+		errno = 0;
+		value = strtol(list, &end, 10);
+		if (errno || end == NULL)
+			return 0;
+		if (value < 0 || value >= (int)maxsize)
+			return 0;
+		while (isblank(*end))
+			end++;
+		if (*end == '-' && min == INT_MAX) {
+			min = value;
+		} else if ((*end == ',') || (*end == '\0')) {
+			max = value;
+			if (min == INT_MAX)
+				min = value;
+			for (i = min; i <= max; i++) {
+				if (count < maxsize) {
+					if (marked[i])
+						continue;
+					values[count] = i;
+					marked[i] = 1;
+					count++;
+				}
+			}
+			min = INT_MAX;
+		} else
+			return 0;
+		list = end + 1;
+	} while (*end != '\0');
+
+	return count;
+}
+
+void
+parse_fwd_portlist(const char *portlist)
+{
+	unsigned int portcount;
+	unsigned int portindex[RTE_MAX_ETHPORTS];
+	unsigned int i, valid_port_count = 0;
+
+	portcount = parse_port_list(portlist, portindex, RTE_MAX_ETHPORTS);
+	if (!portcount)
+		rte_exit(EXIT_FAILURE, "Invalid fwd port list\n");
+
+	/*
+	 * Here we verify the validity of the ports
+	 * and thereby calculate the total number of
+	 * valid ports
+	 */
+	for (i = 0; i < portcount && valid_port_count < portcount; i++) {
+		if (rte_eth_dev_is_valid_port(portindex[i])) {
+			portindex[valid_port_count] = portindex[i];
+			valid_port_count++;
+		}
+	}
+
+	set_fwd_ports_list(portindex, valid_port_count);
+}
+
 void
 set_fwd_ports_mask(uint64_t portmask)
 {
diff --git a/app/test-pmd/parameters.c b/app/test-pmd/parameters.c
index 6340104..404dba2 100644
--- a/app/test-pmd/parameters.c
+++ b/app/test-pmd/parameters.c
@@ -57,6 +57,7 @@ usage(char* progname)
 	       "[--help|-h] | [--auto-start|-a] | ["
 	       "--tx-first | --stats-period=PERIOD | "
 	       "--coremask=COREMASK --portmask=PORTMASK --numa "
+	       "--portlist=PORTLIST "
 	       "--mbuf-size= | --total-num-mbufs= | "
 	       "--nb-cores= | --nb-ports= | "
 #ifdef RTE_LIBRTE_CMDLINE
@@ -92,6 +93,7 @@ usage(char* progname)
 	       "packet forwarding.\n");
 	printf("  --portmask=PORTMASK: hexadecimal bitmask of ports used "
 	       "by the packet forwarding test.\n");
+	printf("  --portlist=PORTLIST: list of forwarding ports\n");
 	printf("  --numa: enable NUMA-aware allocation of RX/TX rings and of "
 	       "RX memory buffers (mbufs).\n");
 	printf("  --port-numa-config=(port,socket)[,(port,socket)]: "
@@ -587,6 +589,7 @@ launch_args_parse(int argc, char** argv)
 		{ "nb-ports",			1, 0, 0 },
 		{ "coremask",			1, 0, 0 },
 		{ "portmask",			1, 0, 0 },
+		{ "portlist",			1, 0, 0 },
 		{ "numa",			0, 0, 0 },
 		{ "no-numa",			0, 0, 0 },
 		{ "mp-anon",			0, 0, 0 },
@@ -825,6 +828,8 @@ launch_args_parse(int argc, char** argv)
 				parse_fwd_coremask(optarg);
 			if (!strcmp(lgopts[opt_idx].name, "portmask"))
 				parse_fwd_portmask(optarg);
+			if (!strcmp(lgopts[opt_idx].name, "portlist"))
+				parse_fwd_portlist(optarg);
 			if (!strcmp(lgopts[opt_idx].name, "no-numa"))
 				numa_support = 0;
 			if (!strcmp(lgopts[opt_idx].name, "numa"))
diff --git a/app/test-pmd/testpmd.h b/app/test-pmd/testpmd.h
index 3dd5fc7..33ef3e2 100644
--- a/app/test-pmd/testpmd.h
+++ b/app/test-pmd/testpmd.h
@@ -614,6 +614,9 @@ lcore_num(void)
 	rte_panic("lcore_id of current thread not found in fwd_lcores_cpuids\n");
 }
 
+void
+parse_fwd_portlist(const char *port);
+
 static inline struct fwd_lcore *
 current_fwd_lcore(void)
 {
diff --git a/doc/guides/testpmd_app_ug/run_app.rst b/doc/guides/testpmd_app_ug/run_app.rst
index 9ab4d70..727ef52 100644
--- a/doc/guides/testpmd_app_ug/run_app.rst
+++ b/doc/guides/testpmd_app_ug/run_app.rst
@@ -77,6 +77,13 @@ The command line options are:
 
     Set the hexadecimal bitmask of the ports used by the packet forwarding test.
 
+*   ``--portlist=X``
+
+      Set the forwarding ports based on the user input used by the packet forwarding test.
+      '-' denotes a range of ports to set including the two specified port IDs
+      ',' separates multiple port values.
+      Possible examples like --portlist=0,1 or --portlist=0-2 or --portlist=0,1-2 etc
+
 *   ``--numa``
 
     Enable NUMA-aware allocation of RX/TX rings and of RX memory buffers
