diff --git a/js/grunt/Gruntfile.js b/js/grunt/Gruntfile.js
index e96ea582b..e867a0a6a 100644
--- a/js/grunt/Gruntfile.js
+++ b/js/grunt/Gruntfile.js
@@ -406,7 +406,8 @@ module.exports = function( grunt ) {
   grunt.registerTask( 'sort-require-statements', 'Sort the require statements for all *.js files in the js/ directory. ' +
                                                  'This assumes the code is formatted  with IDEA code style and that ' +
                                                  'require statements take one line each (not split across lines).  The ' +
-                                                 'files are overwritten.', function() {
+                                                 'files are overwritten.\n' +
+                                                 '--file (optional) absolute path of a single file to sort¬', function() {
     sortRequireStatements( grunt, buildConfig );
   } );
 };
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/js/grunt/sortRequireStatements.js b/js/grunt/sortRequireStatements.js
index 9fd4c09e8..b77cad12e 100644
--- a/js/grunt/sortRequireStatements.js
+++ b/js/grunt/sortRequireStatements.js
@@ -20,9 +20,7 @@ module.exports = function( grunt ) {
 
   var sourceRoot = process.cwd() + '/js';
 
-  // Count the number of start and end dates we need
-  grunt.file.recurse( sourceRoot, function( abspath ) {
-
+  var sortRequireStatementsForFile = function( abspath ) {
     // only address js files
     if ( abspath.indexOf( '.js' ) ) {
 
@@ -67,5 +65,14 @@ module.exports = function( grunt ) {
       grunt.file.write( abspath, result.join( '\n' ) );
       console.log( 'sorted ' + count + ' require statements in ' + abspath );
     }
-  } );
+  };
+
+  // option to sort a single file
+  var file = grunt.option( 'file' );
+  if ( file ) {
+    sortRequireStatementsForFile( file );
+  }
+  else {
+    grunt.file.recurse( sourceRoot, sortRequireStatementsForFile );
+  }
 };
\ No newline at end of file