diff --git a/tools/testing/ktest/ktest.pl b/tools/testing/ktest/ktest.pl
index 1737c59e4ff67..ac59999ed3ded 100755
--- a/tools/testing/ktest/ktest.pl
+++ b/tools/testing/ktest/ktest.pl
@@ -802,7 +802,14 @@ sub process_variables {
 	my $end = $3;
 	# append beginning of value to retval
 	$retval = "$retval$begin";
-	if (defined($variable{$var})) {
+	if ($var =~ s/^shell\s+//) {
+	    $retval = `$var`;
+	    if ($?) {
+		doprint "WARNING: $var returned an error\n";
+	    } else {
+		chomp $retval;
+	    }
+	} elsif (defined($variable{$var})) {
 	    $retval = "$retval$variable{$var}";
 	} elsif (defined($remove_undef) && $remove_undef) {
 	    # for if statements, any variable that is not defined,
diff --git a/tools/testing/ktest/sample.conf b/tools/testing/ktest/sample.conf
index 5e7d1d7297529..2d0fe15a096dd 100644
--- a/tools/testing/ktest/sample.conf
+++ b/tools/testing/ktest/sample.conf
@@ -259,6 +259,14 @@
 # If PATH is not a config variable, then the ${PATH} in
 # the MAKE_CMD option will be evaluated by the shell when
 # the MAKE_CMD option is passed into shell processing.
+#
+# Shell commands can also be inserted with the ${shell <command>}
+# expression. Note, this is case sensitive, thus ${SHELL <command>}
+# will not work.
+#
+# HOSTNAME := ${shell hostname}
+# DEFAULTS IF "${HOSTNAME}" == "frodo"
+#
 
 #### Using options in other options ####
 #