diff --git a/examples/osg2cpp/osg2cpp.cpp b/examples/osg2cpp/osg2cpp.cpp
index 893eb1956..ee306eab4 100644
--- a/examples/osg2cpp/osg2cpp.cpp
+++ b/examples/osg2cpp/osg2cpp.cpp
@@ -30,13 +30,13 @@ void writeShader(osg::Shader* shader, const std::string& cppFileName, const std:
     searchAndReplace(shaderSource, "\r\n", "\n");
     searchAndReplace(shaderSource, "\r", "\n");
     searchAndReplace(shaderSource, "\"", "\\\"");
- 
+
     std::string variableString = std::string("char ")+variableName+std::string("[] = ");
-    
+
     std::string::size_type startOfLine = 0;
     std::string::size_type endOfLine = shaderSource.find_first_of('\n', startOfLine);
-    
-    if (endOfLine==std::string::npos) 
+
+    if (endOfLine==std::string::npos)
     {
         fout<<variableString<<shaderSource<<"\\n\";"<<std::endl;
     }
@@ -63,21 +63,25 @@ int main( int argc, char **argv )
 {
     // use an ArgumentParser object to manage the program arguments.
     osg::ArgumentParser arguments(&argc,argv);
-    
+
     // set up the usage document, in case we need to print out how to use this program.
     arguments.getApplicationUsage()->setApplicationName(arguments.getApplicationName());
     arguments.getApplicationUsage()->setDescription(arguments.getApplicationName()+" is a utility for converting glsl shader files into char arrays that can be compiled into applications.");
     arguments.getApplicationUsage()->setCommandLineUsage(arguments.getApplicationName()+" [options] filename ...");
     arguments.getApplicationUsage()->addCommandLineOption("--shader <filename>","Shader file to create a .cpp file for.");
+    arguments.getApplicationUsage()->addCommandLineOption("--write-to-source-file-directory","Use the path to the source filename as the directory to write to.");
     arguments.getApplicationUsage()->addCommandLineOption("-h or --help","Display command line parameters");
 
     // if user request help write it out to cout.
     if (arguments.read("-h") || arguments.read("--help"))
-    { 
+    {
         arguments.getApplicationUsage()->write(std::cout);
         return 1;
     }
-    
+
+    bool useSamePathAsSourceFile = false;
+    if (arguments.read("--write-to-source-file-directory")) useSamePathAsSourceFile = true;
+
     std::string filename;
     if (arguments.read("--shader",filename))
     {
@@ -94,9 +98,11 @@ int main( int argc, char **argv )
                 name[pos] = '_';
                 pos = name.find_first_of(invalidCharacters);
             }
-            
+
             std::string ext = osgDB::getFileExtension(filename);
-            std::string cppFileName = osgDB::concatPaths(path, name + "_" + ext + ".cpp");
+            std::string cppFileName = name + "_" + ext + ".cpp";
+            if (useSamePathAsSourceFile) cppFileName = osgDB::concatPaths(path, cppFileName);
+
             std::string variableName = name + "_" + ext;
             writeShader(shader.get(), cppFileName, variableName);
 
@@ -107,7 +113,7 @@ int main( int argc, char **argv )
             std::cout<<"Error: could not find file '"<<filename<<"'"<<std::endl;
             return 1;
         }
-        
+
     }
 
     std::cout<<"No appropriate command line options used."<<std::endl;