diff --git a/planet/config.py b/planet/config.py
index cd6a997..99d3cda 100644
--- a/planet/config.py
+++ b/planet/config.py
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ from urlparse import urljoin
 
 parser = ConfigParser()
 
-planet_predefined_options = []
+planet_predefined_options = ['filters']
 
 def __init__():
     """define the struture of an ini file"""
diff --git a/planet/shell/xslt.py b/planet/shell/xslt.py
index 593f7b9..ecdd673 100644
--- a/planet/shell/xslt.py
+++ b/planet/shell/xslt.py
@@ -1,5 +1,19 @@
 import os
 
+def quote(string, apos):
+    """ quote a string so that it can be passed as a parameter """
+    if type(string) == unicode:
+        string=string.encode('utf-8')
+    if apos.startswith("\\"): string.replace('\\','\\\\')
+
+    if string.find("'")<0:
+        return "'" + string + "'"
+    elif string.find("'")<0:
+        return '"' + string + '"'
+    else:
+        # unclear how to quote strings with both types of quotes for libxslt
+        return "'" + string.replace("'",apos) + "'"
+
 def run(script, doc, output_file=None, options={}):
     """ process an XSLT stylesheet """
 
@@ -12,6 +26,22 @@ def run(script, doc, output_file=None, options={}):
     except:
         # otherwise, use the command line interface
         dom = None
+
+    # do it
+    result = None
+    if dom:
+        styledoc = libxml2.parseFile(script)
+        style = libxslt.parseStylesheetDoc(styledoc)
+        for key in options.keys():
+            options[key] = quote(options[key], apos="\xe2\x80\x99")
+        output = style.applyStylesheet(dom, options)
+        if output_file:
+            style.saveResultToFilename(output_file, output, 0)
+        else:
+            result = str(output)
+        style.freeStylesheet()
+        output.freeDoc()
+    elif output_file:
         import warnings
         if hasattr(warnings, 'simplefilter'):
             warnings.simplefilter('ignore', RuntimeWarning)
@@ -20,16 +50,28 @@ def run(script, doc, output_file=None, options={}):
         file.write(doc)
         file.close()
 
-    # do it
-    if dom:
-        styledoc = libxml2.parseFile(script)
-        style = libxslt.parseStylesheetDoc(styledoc)
-        result = style.applyStylesheet(dom, None)
-        style.saveResultToFilename(output_file, result, 0)
-        style.freeStylesheet()
-        result.freeDoc()
+        cmdopts = []
+        for key,value in options.items():
+           cmdopts += ['--stringparam', key, quote(value, apos=r"\'")]
+
+        os.system('xsltproc %s %s %s > %s' %
+            (script, ' '.join(cmdopts), docfile, output_file))
+        os.unlink(docfile)
     else:
-        os.system('xsltproc %s %s > %s' % (script, docfile, output_file))
+        import sys
+        from subprocess import Popen, PIPE
+
+        options = sum([['--stringparam', key, value]
+            for key,value in options.items()], [])
+
+        proc = Popen(['xsltproc'] + options + [script, '-'],
+            stdin=PIPE, stdout=PIPE, stderr=PIPE)
+
+        result, stderr = proc.communicate(doc)
+        if stderr:
+            import planet
+            planet.logger.error(stderr)
 
     if dom: dom.freeDoc()
-    if docfile: os.unlink(docfile)
+
+    return result
diff --git a/tests/data/filter/translate.ini b/tests/data/filter/translate.ini
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0d34e74
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/data/filter/translate.ini
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+[Planet]
+filters = translate.xslt
+filter_directories = tests/data/filter
+
+[translate.xslt]
+in = aeiou
+out = AEIOU
diff --git a/tests/data/filter/translate.xslt b/tests/data/filter/translate.xslt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..25968d7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/data/filter/translate.xslt
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+<xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform" version="1.0">
+  <xsl:param name="in"/>
+  <xsl:param name="out"/>
+
+  <!-- translate $in characters to $out in attribute values -->
+  <xsl:template match="@*">
+    <xsl:attribute name="{name()}">
+      <xsl:value-of select="translate(.,$in,$out)"/>
+    </xsl:attribute>
+  </xsl:template>
+
+  <!-- pass through everything else -->
+  <xsl:template match="node()">
+    <xsl:copy>
+      <xsl:apply-templates select="@*|node()"/>
+    </xsl:copy>
+  </xsl:template>
+
+</xsl:stylesheet>
+
diff --git a/tests/test_filter_xslt.py b/tests/test_filter_xslt.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ca7994e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_filter_xslt.py
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python
+
+import unittest, xml.dom.minidom
+from planet import shell, config, logger
+
+class XsltFilterTests(unittest.TestCase):
+
+    def test_xslt_filter(self):
+        config.load('tests/data/filter/translate.ini')
+        testfile = 'tests/data/filter/category-one.xml'
+
+        input = open(testfile).read()
+        output = shell.run(config.filters()[0], input, mode="filter")
+        dom = xml.dom.minidom.parseString(output)
+        catterm = dom.getElementsByTagName('category')[0].getAttribute('term')
+        self.assertEqual('OnE', catterm)
+
+try:
+    import libxslt
+except:
+    try:
+        from subprocess import Popen, PIPE
+    except ImportError:
+        logger.warn("libxslt is not available => can't test xslt filters")
+        del XsltFilterTests.test_xslt_filter
diff --git a/tests/test_filters.py b/tests/test_filters.py
index e8c5633..aac71f2 100644
--- a/tests/test_filters.py
+++ b/tests/test_filters.py
@@ -92,6 +92,6 @@ try:
         del FilterTests.test_xpath_filter
 
 except ImportError:
-    logger.warn("Popen is not available => can't test filters")
+    logger.warn("Popen is not available => can't test standard filters")
     for method in dir(FilterTests):
         if method.startswith('test_'):  delattr(FilterTests,method)