diff --git a/src/libproxychains.c b/src/libproxychains.c
index 40d8a11..d0f81ec 100644
--- a/src/libproxychains.c
+++ b/src/libproxychains.c
@@ -306,6 +306,11 @@ static void get_chain_data(proxy_data * pd, unsigned int *proxy_count, chain_typ
 	tcp_connect_time_out = 10 * 1000;
 	*ct = DYNAMIC_TYPE;
 
+	if(getenv("PROXYCHAINS_PROXY")) {
+		proxychains_write_log(LOG_PREFIX "using -x proxy, no config file\n");
+		goto use_proxy_env;
+	}
+
 	env = get_config_path(getenv(PROXYCHAINS_CONF_FILE_ENV_VAR), buf, sizeof(buf));
 	if( ( file = fopen(env, "r") ) == NULL )
 	{
@@ -564,9 +569,41 @@ static void get_chain_data(proxy_data * pd, unsigned int *proxy_count, chain_typ
 	fclose(file);
 #endif
 	if(!count) {
+		if(getenv("PROXYCHAINS_PROXY"))
+			goto use_proxy_env;
 		fprintf(stderr, "error: no valid proxy found in config\n");
 		exit(1);
 	}
+	goto done;
+
+use_proxy_env:
+{
+	int port_n = 0;
+	char *proxy_env = getenv("PROXYCHAINS_PROXY");
+
+	if(!proxy_from_string(proxy_env, type, host, &port_n, pd[0].user, pd[0].pass)) {
+		fprintf(stderr, "error: invalid proxy specified in -x: %s\n", proxy_env);
+		exit(1);
+	}
+
+	pd[0].ip.is_v6 = !!strchr(host, ':');
+	pd[0].port = htons((unsigned short) port_n);
+	if(1 != inet_pton(pd[0].ip.is_v6 ? AF_INET6 : AF_INET, host, pd[0].ip.addr.v6)) {
+		fprintf(stderr, "error: proxy host must be a numeric ip: %s\n", host);
+		exit(1);
+	}
+
+	if(!strcmp(type, "http"))
+		pd[0].pt = HTTP_TYPE;
+	else if(!strcmp(type, "socks4"))
+		pd[0].pt = SOCKS4_TYPE;
+	else
+		pd[0].pt = SOCKS5_TYPE;
+
+	count = 1;
+}
+
+done:
 	*proxy_count = count;
 	proxychains_got_chain_data = 1;
 	PDEBUG("proxy_dns: %s\n", rdns_resolver_string(proxychains_resolver));
diff --git a/src/main.c b/src/main.c
index 381c71c..11c336b 100644
--- a/src/main.c
+++ b/src/main.c
@@ -24,9 +24,12 @@
 #include "common.h"
 
 static int usage(char **argv) {
-	printf("\nUsage:\t%s -q -f config_file program_name [arguments]\n"
+	printf("\nUsage:\t%s -q -f config_file -x proxy_url program_name [arguments]\n"
 	       "\t-q makes proxychains quiet - this overrides the config setting\n"
 	       "\t-f allows one to manually specify a configfile to use\n"
+	       "\t-x allows one to manually specify a proxy (e.g. socks5://127.0.0.1:1080)\n"
+	       "\t   proxy types: http, socks4, socks5, raw\n"
+	       "\t   syntax: type://[user:pass@]host:port\n"
 	       "\tfor example : proxychains telnet somehost.com\n" "More help in README file\n\n", argv[0]);
 	return EXIT_FAILURE;
 }
@@ -63,7 +66,7 @@ static void set_own_dir(const char *argv0) {
 	}
 }
 
-#define MAX_COMMANDLINE_FLAGS 2
+#define MAX_COMMANDLINE_FLAGS 3
 
 int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
 	char *path = NULL;
@@ -90,7 +93,16 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
 					return usage(argv);
 
 				start_argv += 2;
-			}
+			} else if(argv[start_argv][1] == 'x') {
+
+				if(start_argv + 1 < argc)
+					setenv("PROXYCHAINS_PROXY", argv[start_argv + 1], 1);
+				else
+					return usage(argv);
+
+				start_argv += 2;
+			} else
+				break;
 		} else
 			break;
 	}
@@ -99,7 +111,10 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
 		return usage(argv);
 
 	/* check if path of config file has not been passed via command line */
-	path = get_config_path(path, pbuf, sizeof(pbuf));
+	if(getenv("PROXYCHAINS_PROXY"))
+		path = "./proxychains.conf";
+	else
+		path = get_config_path(path, pbuf, sizeof(pbuf));
 
 	if(!quiet)
 		fprintf(stderr, LOG_PREFIX "config file found: %s\n", path);