diff --git a/tools/testing/selftests/vm/run_vmtests.sh b/tools/testing/selftests/vm/run_vmtests.sh
index 1fa783732296..0eb16f427a61 100755
--- a/tools/testing/selftests/vm/run_vmtests.sh
+++ b/tools/testing/selftests/vm/run_vmtests.sh
@@ -1,21 +1,86 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 # SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0
-#please run as root
+# Please run as root
 
 # Kselftest framework requirement - SKIP code is 4.
 ksft_skip=4
 
 exitcode=0
 
-#get huge pagesize and freepages from /proc/meminfo
-while read -r name size unit; do
-	if [ "$name" = "HugePages_Free:" ]; then
-		freepgs="$size"
+usage() {
+	cat <<EOF
+usage: ${BASH_SOURCE[0]:-$0} [ -h | -t "<categories>"]
+  -t: specify specific categories to tests to run
+  -h: display this message
+
+The default behavior is to run all tests.
+
+Alternatively, specific groups tests can be run by passing a string
+to the -t argument containing one or more of the following categories
+separated by spaces:
+- mmap
+	tests for mmap(2)
+- gup_test
+	tests for gup using gup_test interface
+- userfaultfd
+	tests for  userfaultfd(2)
+- compaction
+	a test for the patch "Allow compaction of unevictable pages"
+- mlock
+	tests for mlock(2)
+- mremap
+	tests for mremap(2)
+- hugevm
+	tests for very large virtual address space
+- vmalloc
+	vmalloc smoke tests
+- hmm
+	hmm smoke tests
+- madv_populate
+	test memadvise(2) MADV_POPULATE_{READ,WRITE} options
+- memfd_secret
+	test memfd_secret(2)
+- process_mrelease
+	test process_mrelease(2)
+- ksm
+	ksm tests that do not require >=2 NUMA nodes
+- ksm_numa
+	ksm tests that require >=2 NUMA nodes
+- pkey
+	memory protection key tests
+- soft_dirty
+	test soft dirty page bit semantics
+- anon_cow
+	test anonymous copy-on-write semantics
+example: ./run_vmtests.sh -t "hmm mmap ksm"
+EOF
+	exit 0
+}
+
+
+while getopts "ht:" OPT; do
+	case ${OPT} in
+		"h") usage ;;
+		"t") VM_SELFTEST_ITEMS=${OPTARG} ;;
+	esac
+done
+shift $((OPTIND -1))
+
+# default behavior: run all tests
+VM_SELFTEST_ITEMS=${VM_SELFTEST_ITEMS:-default}
+
+test_selected() {
+	if [ "$VM_SELFTEST_ITEMS" == "default" ]; then
+		# If no VM_SELFTEST_ITEMS are specified, run all tests
+		return 0
 	fi
-	if [ "$name" = "Hugepagesize:" ]; then
-		hpgsize_KB="$size"
+	# If test selected argument is one of the test items
+	if [[ " ${VM_SELFTEST_ITEMS[*]} " =~ " ${1} " ]]; then
+	        return 0
+	else
+	        return 1
 	fi
-done < /proc/meminfo
+}
 
 # Simple hugetlbfs tests have a hardcoded minimum requirement of
 # huge pages totaling 256MB (262144KB) in size.  The userfaultfd
@@ -27,7 +92,17 @@ hpgsize_MB=$((hpgsize_KB / 1024))
 half_ufd_size_MB=$((((nr_cpus * hpgsize_MB + 127) / 128) * 128))
 needmem_KB=$((half_ufd_size_MB * 2 * 1024))
 
-#set proper nr_hugepages
+# get huge pagesize and freepages from /proc/meminfo
+while read -r name size unit; do
+	if [ "$name" = "HugePages_Free:" ]; then
+		freepgs="$size"
+	fi
+	if [ "$name" = "Hugepagesize:" ]; then
+		hpgsize_KB="$size"
+	fi
+done < /proc/meminfo
+
+# set proper nr_hugepages
 if [ -n "$freepgs" ] && [ -n "$hpgsize_KB" ]; then
 	nr_hugepgs=$(cat /proc/sys/vm/nr_hugepages)
 	needpgs=$((needmem_KB / hpgsize_KB))
@@ -56,136 +131,141 @@ else
 	exit 1
 fi
 
-#filter 64bit architectures
+# filter 64bit architectures
 ARCH64STR="arm64 ia64 mips64 parisc64 ppc64 ppc64le riscv64 s390x sh64 sparc64 x86_64"
 if [ -z "$ARCH" ]; then
 	ARCH=$(uname -m 2>/dev/null | sed -e 's/aarch64.*/arm64/')
 fi
 VADDR64=0
-echo "$ARCH64STR" | grep "$ARCH" && VADDR64=1
+echo "$ARCH64STR" | grep "$ARCH" &>/dev/null && VADDR64=1
 
 # Usage: run_test [test binary] [arbitrary test arguments...]
 run_test() {
-	local title="running $*"
-	local sep=$(echo -n "$title" | tr "[:graph:][:space:]" -)
-	printf "%s\n%s\n%s\n" "$sep" "$title" "$sep"
-
-	"$@"
-	local ret=$?
-	if [ $ret -eq 0 ]; then
-		echo "[PASS]"
-	elif [ $ret -eq $ksft_skip ]; then
-		echo "[SKIP]"
-		exitcode=$ksft_skip
-	else
-		echo "[FAIL]"
-		exitcode=1
-	fi
+	if test_selected ${CATEGORY}; then
+		echo "running: $1"
+		local title="running $*"
+		local sep=$(echo -n "$title" | tr "[:graph:][:space:]" -)
+		printf "%s\n%s\n%s\n" "$sep" "$title" "$sep"
+
+		"$@"
+		local ret=$?
+		if [ $ret -eq 0 ]; then
+			echo "[PASS]"
+		elif [ $ret -eq $ksft_skip ]; then
+			echo "[SKIP]"
+			exitcode=$ksft_skip
+		else
+			echo "[FAIL]"
+			exitcode=1
+		fi
+	fi # test_selected
 }
 
-run_test ./hugepage-mmap
+CATEGORY="hugetlb" run_test ./hugepage-mmap
 
 shmmax=$(cat /proc/sys/kernel/shmmax)
 shmall=$(cat /proc/sys/kernel/shmall)
 echo 268435456 > /proc/sys/kernel/shmmax
 echo 4194304 > /proc/sys/kernel/shmall
-run_test ./hugepage-shm
+CATEGORY="hugetlb" run_test ./hugepage-shm
 echo "$shmmax" > /proc/sys/kernel/shmmax
 echo "$shmall" > /proc/sys/kernel/shmall
 
-run_test ./map_hugetlb
-run_test ./hugepage-mremap
-run_test ./hugepage-vmemmap
-run_test ./hugetlb-madvise
+CATEGORY="hugetlb" run_test ./map_hugetlb
+CATEGORY="hugetlb" run_test ./hugepage-mremap
+CATEGORY="hugetlb" run_test ./hugepage-vmemmap
+CATEGORY="hugetlb" run_test ./hugetlb-madvise
 
-echo "NOTE: The above hugetlb tests provide minimal coverage.  Use"
-echo "      https://github.com/libhugetlbfs/libhugetlbfs.git for"
-echo "      hugetlb regression testing."
+if test_selected "hugetlb"; then
+	echo "NOTE: These hugetlb tests provide minimal coverage.  Use"
+	echo "      https://github.com/libhugetlbfs/libhugetlbfs.git for"
+	echo "      hugetlb regression testing."
+fi
 
-run_test ./map_fixed_noreplace
+CATEGORY="mmap" run_test ./map_fixed_noreplace
 
 # get_user_pages_fast() benchmark
-run_test ./gup_test -u
+CATEGORY="gup_test" run_test ./gup_test -u
 # pin_user_pages_fast() benchmark
-run_test ./gup_test -a
+CATEGORY="gup_test" run_test ./gup_test -a
 # Dump pages 0, 19, and 4096, using pin_user_pages:
-run_test ./gup_test -ct -F 0x1 0 19 0x1000
+CATEGORY="gup_test" run_test ./gup_test -ct -F 0x1 0 19 0x1000
 
 uffd_mods=("" ":dev")
 for mod in "${uffd_mods[@]}"; do
-	run_test ./userfaultfd anon${mod} 20 16
+	CATEGORY="userfaultfd" run_test ./userfaultfd anon${mod} 20 16
 	# Hugetlb tests require source and destination huge pages. Pass in half
 	# the size ($half_ufd_size_MB), which is used for *each*.
-	run_test ./userfaultfd hugetlb${mod} "$half_ufd_size_MB" 32
-	run_test ./userfaultfd hugetlb_shared${mod} "$half_ufd_size_MB" 32
-	run_test ./userfaultfd shmem${mod} 20 16
+	CATEGORY="userfaultfd" run_test ./userfaultfd hugetlb${mod} "$half_ufd_size_MB" 32
+	CATEGORY="userfaultfd" run_test ./userfaultfd hugetlb_shared${mod} "$half_ufd_size_MB" 32
+	CATEGORY="userfaultfd" run_test ./userfaultfd shmem${mod} 20 16
 done
 
 #cleanup
 echo "$nr_hugepgs" > /proc/sys/vm/nr_hugepages
 
-run_test ./compaction_test
+CATEGORY="compaction" run_test ./compaction_test
 
-run_test sudo -u nobody ./on-fault-limit
+CATEGORY="mlock" run_test sudo -u nobody ./on-fault-limit
 
-run_test ./map_populate
+CATEGORY="mmap" run_test ./map_populate
 
-run_test ./mlock-random-test
+CATEGORY="mlock" run_test ./mlock-random-test
 
-run_test ./mlock2-tests
+CATEGORY="mlock" run_test ./mlock2-tests
 
-run_test ./mrelease_test
+CATEGORY="process_mrelease" run_test ./mrelease_test
 
-run_test ./mremap_test
+CATEGORY="mremap" run_test ./mremap_test
 
-run_test ./thuge-gen
+CATEGORY="hugetlb" run_test ./thuge-gen
 
 if [ $VADDR64 -ne 0 ]; then
-	run_test ./virtual_address_range
+	CATEGORY="hugevm" run_test ./virtual_address_range
 
 	# virtual address 128TB switch test
-	run_test ./va_128TBswitch.sh
+	CATEGORY="hugevm" run_test ./va_128TBswitch.sh
 fi # VADDR64
 
 # vmalloc stability smoke test
-run_test ./test_vmalloc.sh smoke
+CATEGORY="vmalloc" run_test ./test_vmalloc.sh smoke
 
-run_test ./mremap_dontunmap
+CATEGORY="mremap" run_test ./mremap_dontunmap
 
-run_test ./test_hmm.sh smoke
+CATEGORY="hmm" run_test ./test_hmm.sh smoke
 
 # MADV_POPULATE_READ and MADV_POPULATE_WRITE tests
-run_test ./madv_populate
+CATEGORY="madv_populate" run_test ./madv_populate
 
-run_test ./memfd_secret
+CATEGORY="memfd_secret" run_test ./memfd_secret
 
 # KSM MADV_MERGEABLE test with 10 identical pages
-run_test ./ksm_tests -M -p 10
+CATEGORY="ksm" run_test ./ksm_tests -M -p 10
 # KSM unmerge test
-run_test ./ksm_tests -U
+CATEGORY="ksm" run_test ./ksm_tests -U
 # KSM test with 10 zero pages and use_zero_pages = 0
-run_test ./ksm_tests -Z -p 10 -z 0
+CATEGORY="ksm" run_test ./ksm_tests -Z -p 10 -z 0
 # KSM test with 10 zero pages and use_zero_pages = 1
-run_test ./ksm_tests -Z -p 10 -z 1
+CATEGORY="ksm" run_test ./ksm_tests -Z -p 10 -z 1
 # KSM test with 2 NUMA nodes and merge_across_nodes = 1
-run_test ./ksm_tests -N -m 1
+CATEGORY="ksm_numa" run_test ./ksm_tests -N -m 1
 # KSM test with 2 NUMA nodes and merge_across_nodes = 0
-run_test ./ksm_tests -N -m 0
+CATEGORY="ksm_numa" run_test ./ksm_tests -N -m 0
 
 # protection_keys tests
 if [ -x ./protection_keys_32 ]
 then
-	run_test ./protection_keys_32
+	CATEGORY="pkey" run_test ./protection_keys_32
 fi
 
 if [ -x ./protection_keys_64 ]
 then
-	run_test ./protection_keys_64
+	CATEGORY="pkey" run_test ./protection_keys_64
 fi
 
-run_test ./soft-dirty
+CATEGORY="soft_dirty" run_test ./soft-dirty
 
 # COW tests for anonymous memory
-run_test ./anon_cow
+CATEGORY="anon_cow" run_test ./anon_cow
 
 exit $exitcode
