diff --git a/config.def.h b/config.def.h
index 1edb647..47b616d 100644
--- a/config.def.h
+++ b/config.def.h
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ static const char *colors[SchemeLast][2] = {
 	[SchemeNorm] = { "#bbbbbb", "#222222" },
 	[SchemeSel] = { "#eeeeee", "#005577" },
 	[SchemeOut] = { "#000000", "#00ffff" },
+	[SchemeHp]  = { "#bbbbbb", "#333333" }
 };
 /* -l option; if nonzero, dmenu uses vertical list with given number of lines */
 static unsigned int lines      = 0;
diff --git a/dmenu.c b/dmenu.c
index 571bc35..d5265e9 100644
--- a/dmenu.c
+++ b/dmenu.c
@@ -26,14 +26,16 @@
 #define TEXTW(X)              (drw_fontset_getwidth(drw, (X)) + lrpad)
 
 /* enums */
-enum { SchemeNorm, SchemeSel, SchemeOut, SchemeLast }; /* color schemes */
+enum { SchemeNorm, SchemeSel, SchemeHp, SchemeOut, SchemeLast }; /* color schemes */
 
 struct item {
 	char *text;
 	struct item *left, *right;
-	int out;
+	int out, hp;
 };
 
+static const char **hpitems = NULL;
+static int hplength = 0;
 static char text[BUFSIZ] = "";
 static char *embed;
 static int bh, mw, mh;
@@ -65,6 +67,29 @@ textw_clamp(const char *str, unsigned int n)
 	return MIN(w, n);
 }
 
+static int
+str_compar(const void *s0_in, const void *s1_in)
+{
+	const char *s0 = *(const char **)s0_in;
+	const char *s1 = *(const char **)s1_in;
+	return fstrncmp == strncasecmp ? strcasecmp(s0, s1) : strcmp(s0, s1);
+}
+
+static void
+parse_hpitems(char *src)
+{
+	int n = 0;
+	char *t;
+
+	for (t = strtok(src, ","); t; t = strtok(NULL, ",")) {
+		if (hplength + 1 >= n) {
+			if (!(hpitems = realloc(hpitems, (n += 8) * sizeof *hpitems)))
+				die("Unable to realloc %zu bytes\n", n * sizeof *hpitems);
+		}
+		hpitems[hplength++] = t;
+	}
+}
+
 static void
 appenditem(struct item *item, struct item **list, struct item **last)
 {
@@ -107,6 +132,7 @@ cleanup(void)
 	for (i = 0; items && items[i].text; ++i)
 		free(items[i].text);
 	free(items);
+	free(hpitems);
 	drw_free(drw);
 	XSync(dpy, False);
 	XCloseDisplay(dpy);
@@ -135,6 +161,8 @@ drawitem(struct item *item, int x, int y, int w)
 {
 	if (item == sel)
 		drw_setscheme(drw, scheme[SchemeSel]);
+	else if (item->hp)
+		drw_setscheme(drw, scheme[SchemeHp]);
 	else if (item->out)
 		drw_setscheme(drw, scheme[SchemeOut]);
 	else
@@ -236,7 +264,7 @@ match(void)
 	char buf[sizeof text], *s;
 	int i, tokc = 0;
 	size_t len, textsize;
-	struct item *item, *lprefix, *lsubstr, *prefixend, *substrend;
+	struct item *item, *lhpprefix, *lprefix, *lsubstr, *hpprefixend, *prefixend, *substrend;
 
 	strcpy(buf, text);
 	/* separate input text into tokens to be matched individually */
@@ -245,7 +273,7 @@ match(void)
 			die("cannot realloc %zu bytes:", tokn * sizeof *tokv);
 	len = tokc ? strlen(tokv[0]) : 0;
 
-	matches = lprefix = lsubstr = matchend = prefixend = substrend = NULL;
+	matches = lhpprefix = lprefix = lsubstr = matchend = hpprefixend = prefixend = substrend = NULL;
 	textsize = strlen(text) + 1;
 	for (item = items; item && item->text; item++) {
 		for (i = 0; i < tokc; i++)
@@ -253,14 +281,24 @@ match(void)
 				break;
 		if (i != tokc) /* not all tokens match */
 			continue;
-		/* exact matches go first, then prefixes, then substrings */
+		/* exact matches go first, then prefixes with high priority, then prefixes, then substrings */
 		if (!tokc || !fstrncmp(text, item->text, textsize))
 			appenditem(item, &matches, &matchend);
+		else if (item->hp && !fstrncmp(tokv[0], item->text, len))
+			appenditem(item, &lhpprefix, &hpprefixend);
 		else if (!fstrncmp(tokv[0], item->text, len))
 			appenditem(item, &lprefix, &prefixend);
 		else
 			appenditem(item, &lsubstr, &substrend);
 	}
+	if (lhpprefix) {
+		if (matches) {
+			matchend->right = lhpprefix;
+			lhpprefix->left = matchend;
+		} else
+			matches = lhpprefix;
+		matchend = hpprefixend;
+	}
 	if (lprefix) {
 		if (matches) {
 			matchend->right = lprefix;
@@ -552,6 +590,9 @@ readstdin(void)
 	char buf[sizeof text], *p;
 	size_t i, size = 0;
 
+	if (hpitems && hplength > 0)
+		qsort(hpitems, hplength, sizeof *hpitems, str_compar);
+
 	/* read each line from stdin and add it to the item list */
 	for (i = 0; fgets(buf, sizeof buf, stdin); i++) {
 		if (i + 1 >= size / sizeof *items)
@@ -562,6 +603,11 @@ readstdin(void)
 		if (!(items[i].text = strdup(buf)))
 			die("cannot strdup %zu bytes:", strlen(buf) + 1);
 		items[i].out = 0;
+		p = hpitems == NULL ? NULL : bsearch(
+			&items[i].text, hpitems, hplength, sizeof *hpitems,
+			str_compar
+		);
+		items[i].hp = p != NULL;
 	}
 	if (items)
 		items[i].text = NULL;
@@ -711,7 +757,8 @@ static void
 usage(void)
 {
 	fputs("usage: dmenu [-bfiv] [-l lines] [-p prompt] [-fn font] [-m monitor]\n"
-	      "             [-nb color] [-nf color] [-sb color] [-sf color] [-w windowid]\n", stderr);
+	      "             [-nb color] [-nf color] [-sb color] [-sf color] [-w windowid]\n"
+	      "             [-hb color] [-hf color] [-hp items]\n", stderr);
 	exit(1);
 }
 
@@ -752,8 +799,14 @@ main(int argc, char *argv[])
 			colors[SchemeSel][ColBg] = argv[++i];
 		else if (!strcmp(argv[i], "-sf"))  /* selected foreground color */
 			colors[SchemeSel][ColFg] = argv[++i];
+		else if (!strcmp(argv[i], "-hb"))  /* high priority background color */
+			colors[SchemeHp][ColBg] = argv[++i];
+		else if (!strcmp(argv[i], "-hf")) /* low priority background color */
+			colors[SchemeHp][ColFg] = argv[++i];
 		else if (!strcmp(argv[i], "-w"))   /* embedding window id */
 			embed = argv[++i];
+		else if (!strcmp(argv[i], "-hp"))
+			parse_hpitems(argv[++i]);
 		else
 			usage();