diff --git a/scripts/checkpatch.pl b/scripts/checkpatch.pl
index 5fe8762b1fae..360ae4b84ee3 100755
--- a/scripts/checkpatch.pl
+++ b/scripts/checkpatch.pl
@@ -974,6 +974,16 @@ sub seed_camelcase_includes {
 	}
 }
 
+sub git_is_single_file {
+	my ($filename) = @_;
+
+	return 0 if ((which("git") eq "") || !(-e "$gitroot"));
+
+	my $output = `${git_command} ls-files -- $filename 2>/dev/null`;
+	my $count = $output =~ tr/\n//;
+	return $count eq 1 && $output =~ m{^${filename}$};
+}
+
 sub git_commit_info {
 	my ($commit, $id, $desc) = @_;
 
@@ -1047,6 +1057,9 @@ my $vname;
 $allow_c99_comments = !defined $ignore_type{"C99_COMMENT_TOLERANCE"};
 for my $filename (@ARGV) {
 	my $FILE;
+	my $is_git_file = git_is_single_file($filename);
+	my $oldfile = $file;
+	$file = 1 if ($is_git_file);
 	if ($git) {
 		open($FILE, '-|', "git format-patch -M --stdout -1 $filename") ||
 			die "$P: $filename: git format-patch failed - $!\n";
@@ -1091,6 +1104,7 @@ for my $filename (@ARGV) {
 	@modifierListFile = ();
 	@typeListFile = ();
 	build_types();
+	$file = $oldfile if ($is_git_file);
 }
 
 if (!$quiet) {