diff --git a/binutils/ChangeLog b/binutils/ChangeLog
index 3bf6972661..f5b45d8c86 100644
--- a/binutils/ChangeLog
+++ b/binutils/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,16 @@
+2016-07-14  Andrew Burgess  <andrew.burgess@embecosm.com>
+
+	* objcopy.c (find_section_list): Handle section patterns starting
+	with '!' being a non-matching pattern.
+	* doc/binutils.texi (objcopy): Give example of using '!' with
+	--remove-section and --only-section.
+	(strip): Give example of using '!' with --remove-section.
+	* testsuite/binutils-all/data-sections.s: New file.
+	* testsuite/binutils-all/only-section-01.d: New file.
+	* testsuite/binutils-all/remove-section-01.d: New file.
+	* testsuite/binutils-all/objcopy.exp: Run new tests.
+	* NEWS: Mention new feature.
+
 2016-07-09  Alan Modra  <amodra@gmail.com>
 
 	PR binutils/20337
diff --git a/binutils/NEWS b/binutils/NEWS
index 5bc6888ab5..9625cf49e2 100644
--- a/binutils/NEWS
+++ b/binutils/NEWS
@@ -1,5 +1,15 @@
 -*- text -*-
 
+* The --remove-section option for objcopy and strip now accepts section
+  patterns starting with an exclamation point to indicate a non-matching
+  section.  A non-matching section is removed from the set of sections
+  matched by an earlier --remove-section pattern.
+
+* The --only-section option for objcopy now accepts section patterns
+  starting with an exclamation point to indicate a non-matching section.
+  A non-matching section is removed from the set of sections matched by
+  an earlier --only-section pattern.
+
 Changes in 2.27:
 
 * Add a configure option, --enable-64-bit-archive, to force use of a
diff --git a/binutils/doc/binutils.texi b/binutils/doc/binutils.texi
index 5a004a34ec..d77bc86b0f 100644
--- a/binutils/doc/binutils.texi
+++ b/binutils/doc/binutils.texi
@@ -1221,6 +1221,18 @@ This option may be given more than once.  Note that using this option
 inappropriately may make the output file unusable.  Wildcard
 characters are accepted in @var{sectionpattern}.
 
+If the first character of @var{sectionpattern} is the exclamation
+point (!) then matching sections will not be copied, even if earlier
+use of @option{--only-section} on the same command line would
+otherwise copy it.  For example:
+
+@smallexample
+  --only-section=.text.* --only-section=!.text.foo
+@end smallexample
+
+will copy all sectinos maching '.text.*' but not the section
+'.text.foo'.
+
 @item -R @var{sectionpattern}
 @itemx --remove-section=@var{sectionpattern}
 Remove any section matching @var{sectionpattern} from the output file.
@@ -1230,6 +1242,18 @@ characters are accepted in @var{sectionpattern}.  Using both the
 @option{-j} and @option{-R} options together results in undefined
 behaviour.
 
+If the first character of @var{sectionpattern} is the exclamation
+point (!) then matching sections will not be removed even if an
+earlier use of @option{--remove-section} on the same command line
+would otherwise remove it.  For example:
+
+@smallexample
+  --remove-section=.text.* --remove-section=!.text.foo
+@end smallexample
+
+will remove all sections matching the pattern '.text.*', but will not
+remove the section '.text.foo'.
+
 @item -S
 @itemx --strip-all
 Do not copy relocation and symbol information from the source file.
@@ -3021,6 +3045,18 @@ inappropriately may make the output file unusable.  The wildcard
 character @samp{*} may be given at the end of @var{sectionname}.  If
 so, then any section starting with @var{sectionname} will be removed.
 
+If the first character of @var{sectionpattern} is the exclamation
+point (!) then matching sections will not be removed even if an
+earlier use of @option{--remove-section} on the same command line
+would otherwise remove it.  For example:
+
+@smallexample
+  --remove-section=.text.* --remove-section=!.text.foo
+@end smallexample
+
+will remove all sections matching the pattern '.text.*', but will not
+remove the section '.text.foo'.
+
 @item -s
 @itemx --strip-all
 Remove all symbols.
diff --git a/binutils/objcopy.c b/binutils/objcopy.c
index 4bb625a039..41ccc761d5 100644
--- a/binutils/objcopy.c
+++ b/binutils/objcopy.c
@@ -854,7 +854,7 @@ parse_symflags (const char *s, char **other)
 static struct section_list *
 find_section_list (const char *name, bfd_boolean add, unsigned int context)
 {
-  struct section_list *p;
+  struct section_list *p, *match = NULL;
 
   /* assert ((context & ((1 << 7) - 1)) != 0); */
 
@@ -890,19 +890,36 @@ find_section_list (const char *name, bfd_boolean add, unsigned int context)
 	}
       /* If we are not adding a new name/pattern then
 	 only check for a match if the context applies.  */
-      else if ((p->context & context)
-	       /* We could check for the presence of wildchar characters
-		  first and choose between calling strcmp and fnmatch,
-		  but is that really worth it ?  */
-	       && fnmatch (p->pattern, name, 0) == 0)
-	{
-	  p->used = TRUE;
-	  return p;
-	}
+      else if (p->context & context)
+        {
+          /* We could check for the presence of wildchar characters
+             first and choose between calling strcmp and fnmatch,
+             but is that really worth it ?  */
+          if (p->pattern [0] == '!')
+            {
+              if (fnmatch (p->pattern + 1, name, 0) == 0)
+                {
+                  p->used = TRUE;
+                  return NULL;
+                }
+            }
+          else
+            {
+              if (fnmatch (p->pattern, name, 0) == 0)
+                {
+                  if (match == NULL)
+                    match = p;
+                }
+            }
+        }
     }
 
   if (! add)
-    return NULL;
+    {
+      if (match != NULL)
+        match->used = TRUE;
+      return match;
+    }
 
   p = (struct section_list *) xmalloc (sizeof (struct section_list));
   p->pattern = name;
diff --git a/binutils/testsuite/binutils-all/data-sections.s b/binutils/testsuite/binutils-all/data-sections.s
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..0d6284c678
--- /dev/null
+++ b/binutils/testsuite/binutils-all/data-sections.s
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+        .section ".data.aa.01", "aw"
+        .word 0x1
+
+        .section ".data.aa.02", "aw"
+        .word 0x2
+
+        .section ".data.aa.03", "aw"
+        .word 0x3
+
+        .section ".data.bb.01", "aw"
+        .word 0x4
+
+        .section ".data.bb.02", "aw"
+        .word 0x5
+
+        .section ".data.bb.03", "aw"
+        .word 0x6
diff --git a/binutils/testsuite/binutils-all/objcopy.exp b/binutils/testsuite/binutils-all/objcopy.exp
index ccd4422101..be8a7d2b50 100644
--- a/binutils/testsuite/binutils-all/objcopy.exp
+++ b/binutils/testsuite/binutils-all/objcopy.exp
@@ -1118,6 +1118,9 @@ if [is_elf_format] {
 
     run_dump_test "exclude-1a"
     run_dump_test "exclude-1b"
+
+    run_dump_test "only-section-01"
+    run_dump_test "remove-section-01"
 }
 run_dump_test "localize-hidden-2"
 
diff --git a/binutils/testsuite/binutils-all/only-section-01.d b/binutils/testsuite/binutils-all/only-section-01.d
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..0e71430a6d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/binutils/testsuite/binutils-all/only-section-01.d
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+#PROG: objcopy
+#source: data-sections.s
+#objcopy: --only-section=.data.aa.* --only-section=!.data.aa.02
+#readelf: -WS
+
+#...
+  \[ [0-9]+\] .data.aa.01.*
+  \[ [0-9]+\] .data.aa.03.*
+#...
diff --git a/binutils/testsuite/binutils-all/remove-section-01.d b/binutils/testsuite/binutils-all/remove-section-01.d
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..b2837b2870
--- /dev/null
+++ b/binutils/testsuite/binutils-all/remove-section-01.d
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+#PROG: objcopy
+#source: data-sections.s
+#objcopy: --remove-section=.data.aa.* --remove-section=!.data.aa.02
+#readelf: -WS
+
+#...
+  \[ [0-9]+\] \.data\.aa\.02.*
+#...