diff --git a/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/PMD.java b/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/PMD.java
index b13246dbf1..eef7dd1824 100644
--- a/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/PMD.java
+++ b/pmd-core/src/main/java/net/sourceforge/pmd/PMD.java
@@ -3,9 +3,7 @@
  */
 package net.sourceforge.pmd;
 
-import java.io.BufferedReader;
 import java.io.File;
-import java.io.FileReader;
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.io.InputStream;
 import java.net.URISyntaxException;
@@ -51,6 +49,9 @@ import net.sourceforge.pmd.util.datasource.ReaderDataSource;
 import net.sourceforge.pmd.util.log.ConsoleLogHandler;
 import net.sourceforge.pmd.util.log.ScopedLogHandlersManager;
 
+import org.apache.commons.io.FileUtils;
+import org.apache.commons.lang3.StringUtils;
+
 /**
  * This is the main class for interacting with PMD. The primary flow of all Rule
  * process is controlled via interactions with this class. A command line
@@ -428,8 +429,9 @@ public class PMD {
                 LOG.log(Level.SEVERE, "Problem with Input File Path", inputFilePath);
                 throw new RuntimeException("Problem with Input File Path: " + inputFilePath);
               } else {
-                BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(new FileReader(file));
-                String filePaths = br.readLine();
+                String filePaths = FileUtils.readFileToString(new File(inputFilePath));
+                filePaths = StringUtils.trimToEmpty(filePaths);
+
                 if (null == filePaths){
                   LOG.log(Level.SEVERE, "Problem with Input File Path", inputFilePath);
                   throw new RuntimeException("Problem with Input File Path: " + inputFilePath);
diff --git a/src/site/markdown/usage/running.md.vm b/src/site/markdown/usage/running.md.vm
index 86f3f20a5b..3e1450101f 100644
--- a/src/site/markdown/usage/running.md.vm
+++ b/src/site/markdown/usage/running.md.vm
@@ -106,6 +106,12 @@ The tool comes with a rather extensive help text, simply running with `-help`!
         <td>no</td>
         <td>plsql</td>
     </tr>
+    <tr>
+        <td>-filelist</td>
+        <td>Path to file containing a comma delimited list of files to analyze. If this is given, then you don't need to provide `-dir`.</td>
+        <td>no</td>
+        <td></td>
+    </tr>
     <tr>
         <td>-debug / -verbose / -D / -V</td>
         <td>Debug mode. Prints more log output.</td>