diff --git a/doc/src/sgml/libpq.sgml b/doc/src/sgml/libpq.sgml
index 4e34f00..1bd5597 100644
--- a/doc/src/sgml/libpq.sgml
+++ b/doc/src/sgml/libpq.sgml
@@ -930,7 +930,7 @@ postgresql://%2Fvar%2Flib%2Fpostgresql/dbname
         Note that authentication is likely to fail if <literal>host</>
         is not the name of the server at network address <literal>hostaddr</>.
         Also, note that <literal>host</> rather than <literal>hostaddr</>
-        is used to identify the connection in <filename>~/.pgpass</> (see
+        is used to identify the connection in a password file (see
         <xref linkend="libpq-pgpass">).
        </para>
 
@@ -986,6 +986,16 @@ postgresql://%2Fvar%2Flib%2Fpostgresql/dbname
       </listitem>
      </varlistentry>
 
+     <varlistentry id="libpq-connect-pgpassfile" xreflabel="pgpassfile">
+      <term><literal>pgpassfile</literal></term>
+      <listitem>
+      <para>
+        Specifies the name of the file used to lookup passwords.
+        Defaults to the password file (see <xref linkend="libpq-pgpass">).
+      </para>
+      </listitem>
+     </varlistentry>
+
      <varlistentry id="libpq-connect-connect-timeout" xreflabel="connect_timeout">
       <term><literal>connect_timeout</literal></term>
       <listitem>
@@ -6862,9 +6872,8 @@ myEventProc(PGEventId evtId, void *evtInfo, void *passThrough)
       <indexterm>
        <primary><envar>PGPASSFILE</envar></primary>
       </indexterm>
-      <envar>PGPASSFILE</envar> specifies the name of the password file to
-      use for lookups.  If not set, it defaults to <filename>~/.pgpass</>
-      (see <xref linkend="libpq-pgpass">).
+      <envar>PGPASSFILE</envar> behaves the same as the <xref
+      linkend="libpq-connect-pgpassfile"> connection parameter.
      </para>
     </listitem>
 
@@ -7136,13 +7145,15 @@ myEventProc(PGEventId evtId, void *evtInfo, void *passThrough)
   </indexterm>
 
   <para>
-   The file <filename>.pgpass</filename> in a user's home directory or the
-   file referenced by <envar>PGPASSFILE</envar> can contain passwords to
+   The file <filename>.pgpass</filename> in a user's home directory can contain passwords to
    be used if the connection requires a password (and no password has been
    specified  otherwise). On Microsoft Windows the file is named
    <filename>%APPDATA%\postgresql\pgpass.conf</> (where
    <filename>%APPDATA%</> refers to the Application Data subdirectory in
    the user's profile).
+   Alternatively, a password file can be specified
+   using the connection parameter <xref linkend="libpq-connect-pgpassfile">
+   or the environment variable <envar>PGPASSFILE</envar>.
   </para>
 
   <para>
diff --git a/src/interfaces/libpq/fe-connect.c b/src/interfaces/libpq/fe-connect.c
index f3a9e5a..db1de26 100644
--- a/src/interfaces/libpq/fe-connect.c
+++ b/src/interfaces/libpq/fe-connect.c
@@ -184,6 +184,10 @@ static const internalPQconninfoOption PQconninfoOptions[] = {
 		"Database-Password", "*", 20,
 	offsetof(struct pg_conn, pgpass)},
 
+	{"pgpassfile", "PGPASSFILE", NULL, NULL,
+		"Database-Password-File", "", 64,
+	offsetof(struct pg_conn, pgpassfile)},
+
 	{"connect_timeout", "PGCONNECT_TIMEOUT", NULL, NULL,
 		"Connect-timeout", "", 10,		/* strlen(INT32_MAX) == 10 */
 	offsetof(struct pg_conn, connect_timeout)},
@@ -375,7 +379,7 @@ static int parseServiceFile(const char *serviceFile,
 				 bool *group_found);
 static char *pwdfMatchesString(char *buf, char *token);
 static char *PasswordFromFile(char *hostname, char *port, char *dbname,
-				 char *username);
+				 char *username, char *pgpassfile);
 static bool getPgPassFilename(char *pgpassfile);
 static void dot_pg_pass_warning(PGconn *conn);
 static void default_threadlock(int acquire);
@@ -806,8 +810,9 @@ connectOptions2(PGconn *conn)
 	{
 		if (conn->pgpass)
 			free(conn->pgpass);
+		/* We'll pass conn->pgpassfile regardless of it's contents - checks happen in PasswordFromFile() */
 		conn->pgpass = PasswordFromFile(conn->pghost, conn->pgport,
-										conn->dbName, conn->pguser);
+										conn->dbName, conn->pguser, conn->pgpassfile);
 		if (conn->pgpass == NULL)
 		{
 			conn->pgpass = strdup(DefaultPassword);
@@ -5703,12 +5708,12 @@ pwdfMatchesString(char *buf, char *token)
 	return NULL;
 }
 
-/* Get a password from the password file. Return value is malloc'd. */
+/* Get a password from the password file or the user-specified pgpassfile. Return value is malloc'd. */
 static char *
-PasswordFromFile(char *hostname, char *port, char *dbname, char *username)
+PasswordFromFile(char *hostname, char *port, char *dbname, char *username, char *pgpassfile)
 {
 	FILE	   *fp;
-	char		pgpassfile[MAXPGPATH];
+	char 		temp_path[MAXPGPATH];
 	struct stat stat_buf;
 
 #define LINELEN NAMEDATALEN*5
@@ -5735,8 +5740,13 @@ PasswordFromFile(char *hostname, char *port, char *dbname, char *username)
 	if (port == NULL)
 		port = DEF_PGPORT_STR;
 
-	if (!getPgPassFilename(pgpassfile))
-		return NULL;
+	if(!pgpassfile || pgpassfile[0]=='\0')
+	{
+		/* If no pgpassfile was supplied by the user or it is empty, we try to get a global pgpassfile */
+		if (!getPgPassFilename(temp_path))
+			return NULL;
+		pgpassfile = temp_path;
+	}
 
 	/* If password file cannot be opened, ignore it. */
 	if (stat(pgpassfile, &stat_buf) != 0)
@@ -5858,11 +5868,14 @@ dot_pg_pass_warning(PGconn *conn)
 	{
 		char		pgpassfile[MAXPGPATH];
 
-		if (!getPgPassFilename(pgpassfile))
-			return;
+		/* If no pgpassfile was specified with the connection, we try to get the default one */
+		if (!conn->pgpassfile){
+			if(!getPgPassFilename(pgpassfile))
+				return;
+		}
 		appendPQExpBuffer(&conn->errorMessage,
 					  libpq_gettext("password retrieved from file \"%s\"\n"),
-						  pgpassfile);
+						  (conn->pgpassfile)?(conn->pgpassfile):pgpassfile);
 	}
 }
 
diff --git a/src/interfaces/libpq/libpq-int.h b/src/interfaces/libpq/libpq-int.h
index 7007692..9f5c2f9 100644
--- a/src/interfaces/libpq/libpq-int.h
+++ b/src/interfaces/libpq/libpq-int.h
@@ -317,6 +317,7 @@ struct pg_conn
 	char	   *replication;	/* connect as the replication standby? */
 	char	   *pguser;			/* Postgres username and password, if any */
 	char	   *pgpass;
+	char	   *pgpassfile;		/* path to a file containing the password */
 	char	   *keepalives;		/* use TCP keepalives? */
 	char	   *keepalives_idle;	/* time between TCP keepalives */
 	char	   *keepalives_interval;	/* time between TCP keepalive