diff --git a/cake/console/shells/tasks/extract.php b/cake/console/shells/tasks/extract.php
index 03e1424e8..78a95fb3d 100644
--- a/cake/console/shells/tasks/extract.php
+++ b/cake/console/shells/tasks/extract.php
@@ -90,6 +90,13 @@ class ExtractTask extends Shell {
  */
 	private $__output = null;
 
+/**
+ * An array of directories to exclude.
+ *
+ * @var array
+ */
+	protected $_exclude = array();
+
 /**
  * Execution method always used for tasks
  *
@@ -97,6 +104,9 @@ class ExtractTask extends Shell {
  * @access private
  */
 	function execute() {
+		if (!empty($this->params['exclude'])) {
+			$this->_exclude = explode(',', $this->params['exclude']);
+		}
 		if (isset($this->params['files']) && !is_array($this->params['files'])) {
 			$this->__files = explode(',', $this->params['files']);
 		}
@@ -190,14 +200,17 @@ class ExtractTask extends Shell {
 	public function getOptionParser() {
 		$parser = parent::getOptionParser();
 		return $parser->description(__('CakePHP Language String Extraction:'))
-			->addOption('app', array('help' => __('directory where your application is located.')))
-			->addOption('paths', array('help' => __('comma separted list of paths, full paths are needed.')))
+			->addOption('app', array('help' => __('Directory where your application is located.')))
+			->addOption('paths', array('help' => __('Comma separted list of paths, full paths are needed.')))
 			->addOption('merge', array(
-				'help' => __('[yes|no] Merge all domain strings into the default.po file.'),
+				'help' => __('Merge all domain strings into the default.po file.'),
 				'choices' => array('yes', 'no')
 			))
 			->addOption('output', array('help' => __('Full path to output directory.')))
-			->addOption('files', array('help' => __('comma separated list of files, full paths are needed.')));
+			->addOption('files', array('help' => __('Comma separated list of files, full paths are needed.')))
+			->addOption('exclude', array(
+				'help' => __('Comma separated list of directories to exclude. Any path containing a path segment with the provided values will be skipped. E.g. test,vendors')
+			));
 	}
 
 /**
@@ -502,9 +515,21 @@ class ExtractTask extends Shell {
  * @access private
  */
 	function __searchFiles() {
+		$pattern = false;
+		if (!empty($this->_exclude)) {
+			$pattern = '/[\/\\\\]' . implode('|', $this->_exclude) . '[\/\\\\]/'; 
+		}
 		foreach ($this->__paths as $path) {
 			$Folder = new Folder($path);
 			$files = $Folder->findRecursive('.*\.(php|ctp|thtml|inc|tpl)', true);
+			if (!empty($pattern)) {
+				foreach ($files as $i => $file) {
+					if (preg_match($pattern, $file)) {
+						unset($files[$i]);
+					}
+				}
+				$files = array_values($files);
+			}
 			$this->__files = array_merge($this->__files, $files);
 		}
 	}
diff --git a/cake/tests/cases/console/shells/tasks/extract.test.php b/cake/tests/cases/console/shells/tasks/extract.test.php
index b2c802a5d..21993e0d4 100644
--- a/cake/tests/cases/console/shells/tasks/extract.test.php
+++ b/cake/tests/cases/console/shells/tasks/extract.test.php
@@ -47,6 +47,8 @@ class ExtractTaskTest extends CakeTestCase {
 			array('in', 'out', 'err', '_stop'),
 			array($out, $out, $in)
 		);
+		$this->path = TMP . 'tests' . DS . 'extract_task_test';
+		$Folder = new Folder($this->path . DS . 'locale', true);
 	}
 
 /**
@@ -57,6 +59,9 @@ class ExtractTaskTest extends CakeTestCase {
 	public function tearDown() {
 		parent::tearDown();
 		unset($this->Task);
+
+		$Folder = new Folder($this->path);
+		$Folder->delete();
 	}
 
 /**
@@ -65,21 +70,18 @@ class ExtractTaskTest extends CakeTestCase {
  * @return void
  */
 	public function testExecute() {
-		$path = TMP . 'tests' . DS . 'extract_task_test';
-		new Folder($path . DS . 'locale', true);
-
 		$this->Task->interactive = false;
 
 		$this->Task->params['paths'] = TEST_CAKE_CORE_INCLUDE_PATH . 'tests' . DS . 'test_app' . DS . 'views' . DS . 'pages';
-		$this->Task->params['output'] = $path . DS;
+		$this->Task->params['output'] = $this->path . DS;
 		$this->Task->expects($this->never())->method('err');
 		$this->Task->expects($this->any())->method('in')
 			->will($this->returnValue('y'));
 		$this->Task->expects($this->never())->method('_stop');
 
 		$this->Task->execute();
-		$this->assertTrue(file_exists($path . DS . 'default.pot'));
-		$result = file_get_contents($path . DS . 'default.pot');
+		$this->assertTrue(file_exists($this->path . DS . 'default.pot'));
+		$result = file_get_contents($this->path . DS . 'default.pot');
 
 		$pattern = '/"Content-Type\: text\/plain; charset\=utf-8/';
 		$this->assertPattern($pattern, $result);
@@ -131,7 +133,7 @@ class ExtractTaskTest extends CakeTestCase {
 		$this->assertPattern($pattern, $result);
 
 		// extract.ctp - reading the domain.pot
-		$result = file_get_contents($path . DS . 'domain.pot');
+		$result = file_get_contents($this->path . DS . 'domain.pot');
 
 		$pattern = '/msgid "You have %d new message."\nmsgid_plural "You have %d new messages."/';
 		$this->assertNoPattern($pattern, $result);
@@ -142,9 +144,32 @@ class ExtractTaskTest extends CakeTestCase {
 		$this->assertPattern($pattern, $result);
 		$pattern = '/msgid "You deleted %d message \(domain\)."\nmsgid_plural "You deleted %d messages \(domain\)."/';
 		$this->assertPattern($pattern, $result);
+	}
 
-		$Folder = new Folder($path);
-		$Folder->delete();
+/**
+ * test exclusions
+ *
+ * @return void
+ */
+	function testExtractWithExclude() {
+		$this->Task->interactive = false;
+
+		$this->Task->params['paths'] = TEST_CAKE_CORE_INCLUDE_PATH . 'tests' . DS . 'test_app' . DS . 'views';
+		$this->Task->params['output'] = $this->path . DS;
+		$this->Task->params['exclude'] = 'pages,layouts';
+
+		$this->Task->expects($this->any())->method('in')
+			->will($this->returnValue('y'));
+
+		$this->Task->execute();
+		$this->assertTrue(file_exists($this->path . DS . 'default.pot'));
+		$result = file_get_contents($this->path . DS . 'default.pot');
+
+		$pattern = '/\#: .*extract\.ctp:6\n/';
+		$this->assertNotRegExp($pattern, $result);
+		
+		$pattern = '/\#: .*default\.ctp:26\n/';
+		$this->assertNotRegExp($pattern, $result);
 	}
 
 /**
@@ -153,21 +178,18 @@ class ExtractTaskTest extends CakeTestCase {
  * @return void
  */
 	function testExtractMultiplePaths() {
-		$path = TMP . 'tests' . DS . 'extract_task_test';
-		new Folder($path . DS . 'locale', true);
-
 		$this->Task->interactive = false;
 
 		$this->Task->params['paths'] = 
 			TEST_CAKE_CORE_INCLUDE_PATH . 'tests' . DS . 'test_app' . DS . 'views' . DS . 'pages,' .
 			TEST_CAKE_CORE_INCLUDE_PATH . 'tests' . DS . 'test_app' . DS . 'views' . DS . 'posts';
 	
-		$this->Task->params['output'] = $path . DS;
+		$this->Task->params['output'] = $this->path . DS;
 		$this->Task->expects($this->never())->method('err');
 		$this->Task->expects($this->never())->method('_stop');
 		$this->Task->execute();
 
-		$result = file_get_contents($path . DS . 'default.pot');
+		$result = file_get_contents($this->path . DS . 'default.pot');
 
 		$pattern = '/msgid "Add User"/';
 		$this->assertPattern($pattern, $result);