diff --git a/include/git2/checkout.h b/include/git2/checkout.h
index dfc7e0580..d3e971b43 100644
--- a/include/git2/checkout.h
+++ b/include/git2/checkout.h
@@ -131,6 +131,9 @@ typedef enum {
 	/** Don't refresh index/config/etc before doing checkout */
 	GIT_CHECKOUT_NO_REFRESH = (1u << 9),
 
+	/** Treat pathspec as simple list of exact match file paths */
+	GIT_CHECKOUT_DISABLE_PATHSPEC_MATCH = (1u << 13),
+
 	/**
 	 * THE FOLLOWING OPTIONS ARE NOT YET IMPLEMENTED
 	 */
@@ -222,7 +225,8 @@ typedef struct git_checkout_opts {
 	void *progress_payload;
 
 	/** When not zeroed out, array of fnmatch patterns specifying which
-	 *  paths should be taken into account, otherwise all files.
+	 *  paths should be taken into account, otherwise all files.  Use
+	 *  GIT_CHECKOUT_DISABLE_PATHSPEC_MATCH to treat as simple list.
 	 */
 	git_strarray paths;
 
diff --git a/src/checkout.c b/src/checkout.c
index da22df680..4d6f99463 100644
--- a/src/checkout.c
+++ b/src/checkout.c
@@ -222,7 +222,9 @@ static int checkout_action_wd_only(
 	git_checkout_notify_t notify = GIT_CHECKOUT_NOTIFY_NONE;
 
 	if (!git_pathspec_match_path(
-			pathspec, wd->path, false, workdir->ignore_case))
+			pathspec, wd->path,
+			(data->strategy & GIT_CHECKOUT_DISABLE_PATHSPEC_MATCH) != 0,
+			workdir->ignore_case))
 		return 0;
 
 	/* check if item is tracked in the index but not in the checkout diff */
@@ -1209,6 +1211,8 @@ int git_checkout_iterator(
 		GIT_DIFF_INCLUDE_TYPECHANGE |
 		GIT_DIFF_INCLUDE_TYPECHANGE_TREES |
 		GIT_DIFF_SKIP_BINARY_CHECK;
+	if (data.opts.checkout_strategy & GIT_CHECKOUT_DISABLE_PATHSPEC_MATCH)
+		diff_opts.flags |= GIT_DIFF_DISABLE_PATHSPEC_MATCH;
 	if (data.opts.paths.count > 0)
 		diff_opts.pathspec = data.opts.paths;
 
diff --git a/tests-clar/checkout/tree.c b/tests-clar/checkout/tree.c
index 30887588f..013c79b57 100644
--- a/tests-clar/checkout/tree.c
+++ b/tests-clar/checkout/tree.c
@@ -273,3 +273,86 @@ void test_checkout_tree__can_update_only(void)
 
 	git_object_free(obj);
 }
+
+void test_checkout_tree__can_checkout_with_pattern(void)
+{
+	char *entries[] = { "[l-z]*.txt" };
+
+	/* reset to beginning of history (i.e. just a README file) */
+
+	g_opts.checkout_strategy =
+		GIT_CHECKOUT_FORCE | GIT_CHECKOUT_REMOVE_UNTRACKED;
+
+	cl_git_pass(git_revparse_single(&g_object, g_repo,
+		"8496071c1b46c854b31185ea97743be6a8774479"));
+
+	cl_git_pass(git_checkout_tree(g_repo, g_object, &g_opts));
+	cl_git_pass(
+		git_repository_set_head_detached(g_repo, git_object_id(g_object)));
+
+	git_object_free(g_object);
+	g_object = NULL;
+
+	cl_assert(git_path_exists("testrepo/README"));
+	cl_assert(!git_path_exists("testrepo/branch_file.txt"));
+	cl_assert(!git_path_exists("testrepo/link_to_new.txt"));
+	cl_assert(!git_path_exists("testrepo/new.txt"));
+
+	/* now to a narrow patterned checkout */
+
+	g_opts.checkout_strategy = GIT_CHECKOUT_SAFE_CREATE;
+	g_opts.paths.strings = entries;
+	g_opts.paths.count = 1;
+
+	cl_git_pass(git_revparse_single(&g_object, g_repo, "refs/heads/master"));
+
+	cl_git_pass(git_checkout_tree(g_repo, g_object, &g_opts));
+
+	cl_assert(git_path_exists("testrepo/README"));
+	cl_assert(!git_path_exists("testrepo/branch_file.txt"));
+	cl_assert(git_path_exists("testrepo/link_to_new.txt"));
+	cl_assert(git_path_exists("testrepo/new.txt"));
+}
+
+void test_checkout_tree__can_disable_pattern_match(void)
+{
+	char *entries[] = { "b*.txt" };
+
+	/* reset to beginning of history (i.e. just a README file) */
+
+	g_opts.checkout_strategy =
+		GIT_CHECKOUT_FORCE | GIT_CHECKOUT_REMOVE_UNTRACKED;
+
+	cl_git_pass(git_revparse_single(&g_object, g_repo,
+		"8496071c1b46c854b31185ea97743be6a8774479"));
+
+	cl_git_pass(git_checkout_tree(g_repo, g_object, &g_opts));
+	cl_git_pass(
+		git_repository_set_head_detached(g_repo, git_object_id(g_object)));
+
+	git_object_free(g_object);
+	g_object = NULL;
+
+	cl_assert(!git_path_isfile("testrepo/branch_file.txt"));
+
+	/* now to a narrow patterned checkout, but disable pattern */
+
+	g_opts.checkout_strategy =
+		GIT_CHECKOUT_SAFE_CREATE | GIT_CHECKOUT_DISABLE_PATHSPEC_MATCH;
+	g_opts.paths.strings = entries;
+	g_opts.paths.count = 1;
+
+	cl_git_pass(git_revparse_single(&g_object, g_repo, "refs/heads/master"));
+
+	cl_git_pass(git_checkout_tree(g_repo, g_object, &g_opts));
+
+	cl_assert(!git_path_isfile("testrepo/branch_file.txt"));
+
+	/* let's try that again, but allow the pattern match */
+
+	g_opts.checkout_strategy = GIT_CHECKOUT_SAFE_CREATE;
+
+	cl_git_pass(git_checkout_tree(g_repo, g_object, &g_opts));
+
+	cl_assert(git_path_isfile("testrepo/branch_file.txt"));
+}