diff --git a/hledger/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Tags.hs b/hledger/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Tags.hs
index dae289c70..665c93933 100755
--- a/hledger/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Tags.hs
+++ b/hledger/Hledger/Cli/Commands/Tags.hs
@@ -9,26 +9,34 @@ where
 
 import Data.List
 import Data.String.Here
-import qualified Data.Text.IO as T
+import qualified Data.Text as T
+import Safe
 import Hledger
 import Hledger.Cli.CliOptions
 
 tagsmode = hledgerCommandMode
   [here| tags
-List all the tag names in use.
-With a query, only matched transactions' tags are shown.
+List all the tag names used in the journal. With a TAGREGEX argument,
+only tag names matching the regular expression (case insensitive) are shown. 
+With QUERY arguments, only transactions matching the query are considered.  
 Reads the default journal file, or another specified with -f.
 FLAGS
   |]
   [] -- [flagNone ["strict"] (\opts -> setboolopt "strict" opts) "makes date comparing strict"] -- 
   [generalflagsgroup1]
   []
-  ([], Just $ argsFlag "[QUERY]")
+  ([], Just $ argsFlag "[TAGREGEX [QUERY...]]")
 
-tags CliOpts{rawopts_=_rawopts,reportopts_=ropts} j = do
+tags CliOpts{rawopts_=rawopts,reportopts_=ropts} j = do
   d <- getCurrentDay
   let
-    q = queryFromOpts d ropts
-    ts = filter (q `matchesTransaction`) $ jtxns $ journalSelectingAmountFromOpts ropts j
-    tags = nub $ sort $ map fst $ concatMap transactionAllTags ts
-  mapM_ T.putStrLn tags
+    args      = listofstringopt "args" rawopts
+    mtagpats  = headMay args
+    queryargs = drop 1 args
+    q = queryFromOpts d $ ropts{query_ = unwords queryargs} 
+    txns = filter (q `matchesTransaction`) $ jtxns $ journalSelectingAmountFromOpts ropts j
+    tags = 
+      nub $ sort $ 
+      (maybe id (filter . regexMatchesCI) mtagpats) $ 
+      map (T.unpack . fst) $ concatMap transactionAllTags txns
+  mapM_ putStrLn tags
diff --git a/hledger/doc/commands.m4.md b/hledger/doc/commands.m4.md
index ac7cba9b4..f040dfa18 100644
--- a/hledger/doc/commands.m4.md
+++ b/hledger/doc/commands.m4.md
@@ -766,7 +766,9 @@ The stats command also supports `-o/--output-file`
 for controlling [output destination](#output-destination).
 
 ## tags
-List all the tag names in use.
+List all the tag names used in the journal. With a TAGREGEX argument,
+only tag names matching the regular expression (case insensitive) are shown. 
+With additional QUERY arguments, only transactions matching the query are considered.  
 
 ## test
 Run built-in unit tests.