diff --git a/tests/virshtest.c b/tests/virshtest.c
index cbe6686af3..673c13fe07 100644
--- a/tests/virshtest.c
+++ b/tests/virshtest.c
@@ -423,6 +423,7 @@ mymain(void)
     DO_TEST(44, "a # b\n", "echo a '#' b");
     DO_TEST(45, "a # b\n", "echo a \\# b");
     DO_TEST(46, "a\n", "#unbalanced; 'quotes\"\necho a # b");
+    DO_TEST(47, "a\n", "\\# ignored;echo a\n'#also' ignored");
 
 # undef DO_TEST
 
diff --git a/tools/virsh.pod b/tools/virsh.pod
index 05adb568db..95cab7b57d 100644
--- a/tools/virsh.pod
+++ b/tools/virsh.pod
@@ -35,7 +35,8 @@ will be clear for each of those commands.  Note: it is permissible to
 give numeric names to domains, however, doing so will result in a
 domain that can only be identified by domain id. In other words, if a
 numeric value is supplied it will be interpreted as a domain id, not
-as a name.
+as a name. Any I<command> starting with B<#> is treated as a comment
+and silently ignored, all other unrecognized I<command>s are diagnosed.
 
 The B<virsh> program can be used either to run one I<COMMAND> by giving the
 command and its arguments on the shell command line, or a I<COMMAND_STRING>
diff --git a/tools/virt-admin.pod b/tools/virt-admin.pod
index 8489325ca9..f06ee9247a 100644
--- a/tools/virt-admin.pod
+++ b/tools/virt-admin.pod
@@ -18,7 +18,9 @@ The basic structure of most virt-admin usage is:
 
   virt-admin [OPTION]... <command> [ARG]...
 
-Where I<command> is one of the commands listed below.
+Where I<command> is one of the commands listed below. Any I<command>
+starting with B<#> is treated as a comment and silently ignored, all
+other unrecognized I<command>s are diagnosed.
 
 The B<virt-admin> program can be used either to run one I<COMMAND> by giving the
 command and its arguments on the shell command line, or a I<COMMAND_STRING>
diff --git a/tools/vsh.c b/tools/vsh.c
index 9a88ee29b7..d90ce8d102 100644
--- a/tools/vsh.c
+++ b/tools/vsh.c
@@ -1437,8 +1437,15 @@ vshCommandParse(vshControl *ctl, vshCommandParser *parser, vshCmd **partial)
             }
 
             if (cmd == NULL) {
-                /* first token must be command name */
-                if (!(cmd = vshCmddefSearch(tkdata))) {
+                /* first token must be command name or comment */
+                if (*tkdata == '#') {
+                    do {
+                        VIR_FREE(tkdata);
+                        tk = parser->getNextArg(ctl, parser, &tkdata, false);
+                    } while (tk == VSH_TK_ARG);
+                    VIR_FREE(tkdata);
+                    break;
+                } else if (!(cmd = vshCmddefSearch(tkdata))) {
                     if (!partial)
                         vshError(ctl, _("unknown command: '%s'"), tkdata);
                     goto syntaxError;   /* ... or ignore this command only? */