diff --git a/tools/README.md b/tools/README.md
index 5abeaa6677c..771c21393a6 100644
--- a/tools/README.md
+++ b/tools/README.md
@@ -190,8 +190,12 @@ Usage: java -cp rapids-4-spark-tools_2.12-<version>.jar:$SPARK_HOME/jars/*
        <eventlogs | eventlog directories ...>
 
   -a, --application-name <arg>      Filter event logs whose application name
-                                    matches exactly with input string i.e no
-                                    regular expressions supported.
+                                    matches exactly or is a substring of input 
+                                    string. Regular expressions not supported.
+      --application-name ~<arg>     Filter event logs based on the complement
+                                    of a selection criterion. i.e Select all
+                                    event logs except the ones which have
+                                    application name as the input string.
   -f, --filter-criteria  <arg>      Filter newest or oldest N eventlogs for
                                     processing.eg: 100-newest (for processing
                                     newest 100 event logs). eg: 100-oldest (for
diff --git a/tools/src/main/scala/com/nvidia/spark/rapids/tool/qualification/QualificationArgs.scala b/tools/src/main/scala/com/nvidia/spark/rapids/tool/qualification/QualificationArgs.scala
index 38d09252897..81f2e64915b 100644
--- a/tools/src/main/scala/com/nvidia/spark/rapids/tool/qualification/QualificationArgs.scala
+++ b/tools/src/main/scala/com/nvidia/spark/rapids/tool/qualification/QualificationArgs.scala
@@ -47,8 +47,10 @@ Usage: java -cp rapids-4-spark-tools_2.12-<version>.jar:$SPARK_HOME/jars/*
           "eg: 100-oldest (for processing oldest 100 event logs)")
   val applicationName: ScallopOption[String] =
     opt[String](required = false,
-      descr = "Filter event logs whose application name matches exactly with input string" +
-          "i.e no regular expressions supported.")
+      descr = "Filter event logs whose application name matches " +
+          "exactly or is a substring of input string. Regular expressions not supported." +
+          "For filtering based on complement of application name, use ~APPLICATION_NAME. i.e " +
+          "Select all event logs except the ones which have application name as the input string.")
   val startAppTime: ScallopOption[String] =
     opt[String](required = false,
       descr = "Filter event logs whose application start occurred within the past specified " +
diff --git a/tools/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/rapids/tool/AppFilterImpl.scala b/tools/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/rapids/tool/AppFilterImpl.scala
index f93106b5534..c1ad4ac11fc 100644
--- a/tools/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/rapids/tool/AppFilterImpl.scala
+++ b/tools/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/rapids/tool/AppFilterImpl.scala
@@ -38,6 +38,8 @@ class AppFilterImpl(
   // default is 24 hours
   private val waitTimeInSec = timeout.getOrElse(60 * 60 * 24L)
 
+  private val NEGATE = "~"
+
   private val threadFactory = new ThreadFactoryBuilder()
       .setDaemon(true).setNameFormat("qualAppFilter" + "-%d").build()
   logInfo(s"Threadpool size is $nThreads")
@@ -72,14 +74,11 @@ class AppFilterImpl(
 
     val filterAppName = appArgs.applicationName.getOrElse("")
     if (appArgs.applicationName.isSupplied && filterAppName.nonEmpty) {
-      val filtered = apps.filter { app =>
-        val appNameOpt = app.appInfo.map(_.appName)
-        if (appNameOpt.isDefined) {
-          appNameOpt.get.equals(filterAppName)
-        } else {
-          // incomplete log file
-          false
-        }
+      val filtered = if (filterAppName.startsWith(NEGATE)) {
+        // remove ~ before passing it into the containsAppName function
+        apps.filterNot(app => containsAppName(app, filterAppName.substring(1)))
+      } else {
+        apps.filter(app => containsAppName(app, filterAppName))
       }
       filtered.map(_.eventlog).toSeq
     } else if (appArgs.startAppTime.isSupplied) {
@@ -98,6 +97,16 @@ class AppFilterImpl(
     }
   }
 
+  private def containsAppName(app: AppFilterReturnParameters, filterAppName: String): Boolean = {
+    val appNameOpt = app.appInfo.map(_.appName)
+    if (appNameOpt.isDefined) {
+      appNameOpt.get.contains(filterAppName)
+    } else {
+      // in complete log file
+      false
+    }
+  }
+
   case class AppFilterReturnParameters(
       appInfo: Option[ApplicationStartInfo],
       eventlog: EventLogInfo)
diff --git a/tools/src/test/scala/com/nvidia/spark/rapids/tool/qualification/QualificationSuite.scala b/tools/src/test/scala/com/nvidia/spark/rapids/tool/qualification/QualificationSuite.scala
index e34ed691ea5..d6945bc0146 100644
--- a/tools/src/test/scala/com/nvidia/spark/rapids/tool/qualification/QualificationSuite.scala
+++ b/tools/src/test/scala/com/nvidia/spark/rapids/tool/qualification/QualificationSuite.scala
@@ -264,6 +264,27 @@ class QualificationSuite extends FunSuite with BeforeAndAfterEach with Logging {
     assert(result.length == 2) // 2 out of 3 have "Spark shell" as appName.
   }
 
+  test("test appName filter - Negation") {
+    val appName = "~Spark shell"
+    val appArgs = new QualificationArgs(Array(
+      "--application-name",
+      appName,
+      s"$logDir/rdd_only_eventlog",
+      s"$logDir/empty_eventlog",
+      s"$logDir/udf_dataset_eventlog"
+    ))
+
+    val eventLogInfo = EventLogPathProcessor.processAllPaths(appArgs.filterCriteria.toOption,
+      appArgs.matchEventLogs.toOption, appArgs.eventlog(),
+      sparkSession.sparkContext.hadoopConfiguration)
+
+    val appFilter = new AppFilterImpl(1000, sparkSession.sparkContext.hadoopConfiguration,
+      Some(84000), 2)
+    val result = appFilter.filterEventLogs(eventLogInfo, appArgs)
+    assert(eventLogInfo.length == 3)
+    assert(result.length == 1) // 1 out of 3 does not has "Spark shell" as appName.
+  }
+
   test("test udf event logs") {
     val logFiles = Array(
       s"$logDir/dataset_eventlog",