diff --git a/base/exports.jl b/base/exports.jl
index b1cba3ce80895..58c5376ae5e6c 100644
--- a/base/exports.jl
+++ b/base/exports.jl
@@ -531,8 +531,11 @@ export
     findprev,
     findnz,
     first,
+    firstinds,
     flipdim,
     gradient,
+    groupinds,
+    groupslices,
     hcat,
     hvcat,
     ind2sub,
@@ -546,6 +549,7 @@ export
     isperm,
     issorted,
     last,
+    lastinds,
     linspace,
     logspace,
     mapslices,
diff --git a/base/multidimensional.jl b/base/multidimensional.jl
index f050701da89ff..2752630c67d44 100644
--- a/base/multidimensional.jl
+++ b/base/multidimensional.jl
@@ -940,3 +940,178 @@ If `dim` is specified, returns unique regions of the array `itr` along `dim`.
         @nref $N A d->d == dim ? sort!(uniquerows) : (1:size(A, d))
     end
 end
+
+"""
+    groupslices(A, dim)
+
+Returns a vector of integers where each integer element of the returned vector
+is a group number corresponding to the unique slices along dimension `dim` as
+returned from `unique(A, dim)`, where `A` can be a multidimensional array.
+
+Example usage:
+
+If `C = unique(A, dim)`, `ic = groupslices(A, dim)`, and
+rank(A) == rank(C) == 3, then:
+
+if dim == 1
+   all(A .== C[ic,:,:])
+elseif dim == 2
+   all(A .== C[:,ic,:])
+elseif dim == 3
+   all(A .== C[:,:,ic])
+end
+"""
+
+@generated function groupslices{T,N}(A::AbstractArray{T,N}, dim::Int)
+    quote
+        if !(1 <= dim <= $N)
+            ArgumentError("Input argument dim must be 1 <= dim <= $N, but is currently $dim")
+        end
+        hashes = zeros(UInt, size(A, dim))
+
+        # Compute hash for each row
+        k = 0
+        @nloops $N i A d->(if d == dim; k = i_d; end) begin
+            @inbounds hashes[k] = hash(hashes[k], hash((@nref $N A i)))
+        end
+
+        # Collect index of first row for each hash
+        uniquerow = Array(Int, size(A, dim))
+        firstrow = Dict{Prehashed,Int}()
+        for k = 1:size(A, dim)
+            uniquerow[k] = get!(firstrow, Prehashed(hashes[k]), k)
+        end
+        uniquerows = collect(values(firstrow))
+
+        # Check for collisions
+        collided = falses(size(A, dim))
+        @inbounds begin
+            @nloops $N i A d->(if d == dim
+                k = i_d
+                j_d = uniquerow[k]
+            else
+                j_d = i_d
+            end) begin
+                if (@nref $N A j) != (@nref $N A i)
+                    collided[k] = true
+                end
+            end
+        end
+
+        if any(collided)
+            nowcollided = BitArray(size(A, dim))
+            while any(collided)
+                # Collect index of first row for each collided hash
+                empty!(firstrow)
+                for j = 1:size(A, dim)
+                    collided[j] || continue
+                    uniquerow[j] = get!(firstrow, Prehashed(hashes[j]), j)
+                end
+                for v in values(firstrow)
+                    push!(uniquerows, v)
+                end
+
+                # Check for collisions
+                fill!(nowcollided, false)
+                @nloops $N i A d->begin
+                    if d == dim
+                        k = i_d
+                        j_d = uniquerow[k]
+                        (!collided[k] || j_d == k) && continue
+                    else
+                        j_d = i_d
+                    end
+                end begin
+                    if (@nref $N A j) != (@nref $N A i)
+                        nowcollided[k] = true
+                    end
+                end
+                (collided, nowcollided) = (nowcollided, collided)
+            end
+        end
+        ic = uniquerow
+        return ic
+    end
+end
+
+"""
+    groupinds(ic)
+
+Returns a vector of vectors of integers wherein the vector of group slice
+index integers as returned from `groupslices(A, dim)` is converted into a
+grouped vector of vectors.  Each vector entry in the returned vector of
+vectors contains all of the positional indices of slices in the original
+input array `A` that correspond to the unique slices along dimension `dim`
+that are present in the array `C` as returned from `unique(A, dim)`.
+"""
+
+function groupinds(ic::Vector{Int})
+    d = Dict{Int, Int}()
+    ia = unique(ic)
+    n = length(ia)
+    for i = 1:n
+        d[ia[i]]= i
+    end
+
+    ib = Array(Vector{Int},n)
+    for k = 1:n
+        ib[k] = Int[]
+    end
+
+    for h = 1:length(ic)
+        push!(ib[d[ic[h]]], h)
+    end
+    return ib
+end
+
+"""
+    firstinds(ic::Vector{Int})
+    firstinds(ib::Vector{Vector{Int}})
+
+Returns a vector of integers containing the first index position of each unique
+value in the input integer vector `ic`, or the first index position of each
+entry in the input vector of integer vectors `ib`.
+
+When operating on the output returned from `unique(A, dim)`, the returned
+vector of integers correspond to the positions of the first of each unique slice
+present in the original input multidimensional array `A` along dimension `dim`.
+
+The implementation of `firstinds` accepting a vector of integers operates on the
+output returned from `groupslices(A, dim)`.
+
+The implementation of `firstinds` accepting a vector of vector of integers
+operates on the output returned from `groupinds(ic::Vector{Int})`
+"""
+
+function firstinds(ic::Vector{Int})
+    id = unique(ic)
+    n = length(id)
+    ia = Array(Int,n)
+    for i = 1:n
+        ia[i] = findfirst(ic, id[i])
+    end
+    return ia
+end
+
+function firstinds(ib::Vector{Vector{Int}})
+    ia = map(first, ib)
+end
+
+"""
+    lastinds(ic::Vector{Int})
+
+Returns a vector of integers containing the last index position of each unique
+value in the input integer vector `ic`.
+
+When operating on the output returned from `groupinds(unique(A, dim))`, the
+returned vector of integers correspond to the positions of the last of each
+unique slice present in the original input multidimensional array `A` along
+dimension `dim`.
+
+The implementation of `firstinds` accepting a vector of vector of integers
+operates on the output returned from `groupinds(ic::Vector{Int})`
+"""
+
+function lastinds(ib::Vector{Vector{Int}})
+    ia = map(last, ib)
+end
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/choosetests.jl b/test/choosetests.jl
index 7b0ec83d48b90..014b6fb546f88 100644
--- a/test/choosetests.jl
+++ b/test/choosetests.jl
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ function choosetests(choices = [])
         "markdown", "base64", "serialize", "misc", "threads",
         "enums", "cmdlineargs", "i18n", "workspace", "libdl", "int",
         "checked", "intset", "floatfuncs", "compile", "parallel", "inline",
-        "boundscheck", "error", "ambiguous"
+        "boundscheck", "error", "ambiguous", "multidimensional"
     ]
 
     if Base.USE_GPL_LIBS
diff --git a/test/multidimensional.jl b/test/multidimensional.jl
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..4f32c9193a851
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/multidimensional.jl
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+# This file is a part of Julia. License is MIT: http://julialang.org/license
+
+using Base.Test
+
+# Tests for groupslices, groupinds, firstinds, lastinds
+A = [1 2 3 ; 4 5 6 ; 7 8 9]
+B = [11 12 13 ; 14 15 16 ; 17 18 19]
+C = [21 22 23 ; 24 25 26 ; 27 28 29]
+D = cat(3, A, B, C, C, B, C, A)
+
+ic = [1;2;3;3;2;3;1]
+ib = Vector{Int}[]
+push!(ib,[1;7])
+push!(ib,[2;5])
+push!(ib,[3;4;6])
+ia = [1;2;3]
+ia1 = [1;2;3]
+ia2 = [7;5;6]
+
+ic_test = groupslices(D,3)
+ib_test = groupinds(ic_test)
+ia_test = firstinds(ic_test)
+ia1_test = firstinds(ib_test)
+ia2_test = lastinds(ib_test)
+
+@test isequal(ic, ic_test)
+@test isequal(ib, ib_test)
+@test isequal(ia, ia_test)
+@test isequal(ia1, ia1_test)
+@test isequal(ia2, ia2_test)
+
+E =  [1.0  1.0  2.0  2.0  1.0  1.0  1.0  2.0  2.0  2.0
+      1.0  1.0  2.0  2.0  2.0  1.0  2.0  2.0  2.0  1.0
+      1.0  1.0  1.0  1.0  1.0  1.0  1.0  1.0  1.0  2.0]
+
+ib = Vector{Int}[[1,2,6],[3,4,8,9],[5,7],[10]]
+ia = [1; 3; 5; 10]
+ic = [1; 1; 3; 3; 5; 1; 5; 3; 3; 10]
+
+ic_test = groupslices(E,2)
+ib_test = groupinds(ic_test)
+ia_test = firstinds(ic_test)
+ia1_test = firstinds(ib_test)
+ia2_test = lastinds(ib_test)
+
+@test isequal(ic, ic_test)
+@test isequal(ib, ib_test)
+@test isequal(ia, ia_test)
+@test isequal(ia1, ia1_test)
+@test isequal(ia2, ia2_test)
\ No newline at end of file