diff -r 94cade7f6e21 Doc/library/profile.rst
--- a/Doc/library/profile.rst	Thu Jan 22 17:53:24 2015 -0800
+++ b/Doc/library/profile.rst	Wed Jan 28 04:28:58 2015 +0530
@@ -123,13 +123,15 @@
 The file :mod:`cProfile` can also be invoked as a script to profile another
 script.  For example::
 
-   python -m cProfile [-o output_file] [-s sort_order] myscript.py
+   python -m cProfile [-o output_file] [-s sort_order] [-m module] | myscript.py
 
 ``-o`` writes the profile results to a file instead of to stdout
 
 ``-s`` specifies one of the :func:`~pstats.Stats.sort_stats` sort values to sort
 the output by. This only applies when ``-o`` is not supplied.
 
+``-m`` switch marks that a module is being profiled in place of a script
+
 The :mod:`pstats` module's :class:`~pstats.Stats` class has a variety of methods
 for manipulating and printing the data saved into a profile results file::
 
diff -r 94cade7f6e21 Lib/cProfile.py
--- a/Lib/cProfile.py	Thu Jan 22 17:53:24 2015 -0800
+++ b/Lib/cProfile.py	Wed Jan 28 04:28:58 2015 +0530
@@ -122,8 +122,10 @@
 
 def main():
     import os, sys
+    import runpy
     from optparse import OptionParser
-    usage = "cProfile.py [-o output_file_path] [-s sort] scriptfile [arg] ..."
+    usage = ("cProfile.py [-o output_file_path] [-s sort] "
+             "[-m module | scriptfile] [arg] ...")
     parser = OptionParser(usage=usage)
     parser.allow_interspersed_args = False
     parser.add_option('-o', '--outfile', dest="outfile",
@@ -131,6 +133,8 @@
     parser.add_option('-s', '--sort', dest="sort",
         help="Sort order when printing to stdout, based on pstats.Stats class",
         default=-1)
+    parser.add_option('-m', dest="module", action="store_true",
+        help="Profile a library module", default=False)
 
     if not sys.argv[1:]:
         parser.print_usage()
@@ -140,16 +144,23 @@
     sys.argv[:] = args
 
     if len(args) > 0:
-        progname = args[0]
-        sys.path.insert(0, os.path.dirname(progname))
-        with open(progname, 'rb') as fp:
-            code = compile(fp.read(), progname, 'exec')
-        globs = {
-            '__file__': progname,
-            '__name__': '__main__',
-            '__package__': None,
-            '__cached__': None,
-        }
+        if options.module:
+            code = "runpy.run_module(modname, run_name='__main__')"
+            globs = {
+                'runpy': runpy,
+                'modname': args[0],
+            }
+        else:
+            progname = args[0]
+            sys.path.insert(0, os.path.dirname(progname))
+            with open(progname, 'rb') as fp:
+                code = compile(fp.read(), progname, 'exec')
+            globs = {
+                '__file__': progname,
+                '__name__': '__main__',
+                '__package__': None,
+                '__cached__': None,
+            }
         runctx(code, globs, None, options.outfile, options.sort)
     else:
         parser.print_usage()
diff -r 94cade7f6e21 Lib/test/test_cprofile.py
--- a/Lib/test/test_cprofile.py	Thu Jan 22 17:53:24 2015 -0800
+++ b/Lib/test/test_cprofile.py	Wed Jan 28 04:28:58 2015 +0530
@@ -7,6 +7,8 @@
 import cProfile
 from test.test_profile import ProfileTest, regenerate_expected_output
 from test.profilee import testfunc
+from test.script_helper import assert_python_failure, assert_python_ok
+
 
 class CProfileTest(ProfileTest):
     profilerclass = cProfile.Profile
@@ -35,6 +37,18 @@
         finally:
             unlink(TESTFN)
 
+    def test_module_switch(self):
+        # Test expected operations for the '-m' switch
+
+        # Switch needs an argument
+        assert_python_failure('-m', 'cProfile', '-m')
+
+        # Error while running a nonexistent module
+        assert_python_failure('-m', 'cProfile', 'fnord43520xyz.py')
+
+        # Ok if module is found and run successfully
+        assert_python_ok('-m', 'cProfile', '-m', 'timeit', '-n', '1')
+
 
 def test_main():
     run_unittest(CProfileTest)