diff --git a/diesel/src/mysql/connection/raw.rs b/diesel/src/mysql/connection/raw.rs
index 27efc5ddfe75..be771cef27cf 100644
--- a/diesel/src/mysql/connection/raw.rs
+++ b/diesel/src/mysql/connection/raw.rs
@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@ impl RawConnection {
         let password = connection_options.password();
         let database = connection_options.database();
         let port = connection_options.port();
+        let unix_socket = connection_options.unix_socket();
 
         unsafe {
             // Make sure you don't use the fake one!
@@ -59,7 +60,9 @@ impl RawConnection {
                     .map(CStr::as_ptr)
                     .unwrap_or_else(|| ptr::null_mut()),
                 u32::from(port.unwrap_or(0)),
-                ptr::null_mut(),
+                unix_socket
+                    .map(CStr::as_ptr)
+                    .unwrap_or_else(|| ptr::null_mut()),
                 0,
             )
         };
diff --git a/diesel/src/mysql/connection/url.rs b/diesel/src/mysql/connection/url.rs
index 8dbbf76a94b2..5fc84622f056 100644
--- a/diesel/src/mysql/connection/url.rs
+++ b/diesel/src/mysql/connection/url.rs
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ extern crate url;
 
 use self::percent_encoding::percent_decode;
 use self::url::{Host, Url};
+use std::collections::HashMap;
 use std::ffi::{CStr, CString};
 
 use crate::result::{ConnectionError, ConnectionResult};
@@ -13,6 +14,7 @@ pub struct ConnectionOptions {
     password: Option<CString>,
     database: Option<CString>,
     port: Option<u16>,
+    unix_socket: Option<CString>,
 }
 
 impl ConnectionOptions {
@@ -30,8 +32,19 @@ impl ConnectionOptions {
             return Err(connection_url_error());
         }
 
+        let query_pairs = url.query_pairs().into_owned().collect::<HashMap<_, _>>();
+        if query_pairs.get("database").is_some() {
+            return Err(connection_url_error());
+        }
+
+        let unix_socket = match query_pairs.get("unix_socket") {
+            Some(v) => Some(CString::new(v.as_bytes())?),
+            _ => None,
+        };
+
         let host = match url.host() {
             Some(Host::Ipv6(host)) => Some(CString::new(host.to_string())?),
+            Some(host) if host.to_string() == "localhost" && unix_socket != None => None,
             Some(host) => Some(CString::new(host.to_string())?),
             None => None,
         };
@@ -40,6 +53,7 @@ impl ConnectionOptions {
             Some(password) => Some(decode_into_cstring(password)?),
             None => None,
         };
+
         let database = match url.path_segments().and_then(|mut iter| iter.next()) {
             Some("") | None => None,
             Some(segment) => Some(CString::new(segment.as_bytes())?),
@@ -51,6 +65,7 @@ impl ConnectionOptions {
             password: password,
             database: database,
             port: url.port(),
+            unix_socket: unix_socket,
         })
     }
 
@@ -73,6 +88,10 @@ impl ConnectionOptions {
     pub fn port(&self) -> Option<u16> {
         self.port
     }
+
+    pub fn unix_socket(&self) -> Option<&CStr> {
+        self.unix_socket.as_ref().map(|x| &**x)
+    }
 }
 
 fn decode_into_cstring(s: &str) -> ConnectionResult<CString> {
@@ -84,7 +103,7 @@ fn decode_into_cstring(s: &str) -> ConnectionResult<CString> {
 
 fn connection_url_error() -> ConnectionError {
     let msg = "MySQL connection URLs must be in the form \
-               `mysql://[[user]:[password]@]host[:port][/database]`";
+               `mysql://[[user]:[password]@]host[:port][/database][?unix_socket=socket-path]`";
     ConnectionError::InvalidConnectionUrl(msg.into())
 }
 
@@ -94,6 +113,7 @@ fn urls_with_schemes_other_than_mysql_are_errors() {
     assert!(ConnectionOptions::parse("http://localhost").is_err());
     assert!(ConnectionOptions::parse("file:///tmp/mysql.sock").is_err());
     assert!(ConnectionOptions::parse("socket:///tmp/mysql.sock").is_err());
+    assert!(ConnectionOptions::parse("mysql://localhost?database=somedb").is_err());
     assert!(ConnectionOptions::parse("mysql://localhost").is_ok());
 }
 
@@ -186,3 +206,24 @@ fn ipv6_host_not_wrapped_in_brackets() {
             .host()
     );
 }
+
+#[test]
+fn unix_socket_tests() {
+    let unix_socket = "/var/run/mysqld.sock";
+    let username = "foo";
+    let password = "bar";
+    let db_url = format!(
+        "mysql://{}:{}@localhost?unix_socket={}",
+        username, password, unix_socket
+    );
+    let conn_opts = ConnectionOptions::parse(db_url.as_str()).unwrap();
+    let cstring = |s| CString::new(s).unwrap();
+    assert_eq!(None, conn_opts.host);
+    assert_eq!(None, conn_opts.port);
+    assert_eq!(cstring(username), conn_opts.user);
+    assert_eq!(cstring(password), conn_opts.password.unwrap());
+    assert_eq!(
+        CString::new(unix_socket).unwrap(),
+        conn_opts.unix_socket.unwrap()
+    );
+}