diff --git a/cmd/config_mapfilter.go b/cmd/config_mapfilter.go
index 2e600f6..b39cc51 100644
--- a/cmd/config_mapfilter.go
+++ b/cmd/config_mapfilter.go
@@ -4,8 +4,9 @@ import (
 	"fmt"
 	"strings"
 
-	"github.com/zrepl/zrepl/zfs"
 	"github.com/mitchellh/mapstructure"
+	"github.com/pkg/errors"
+	"github.com/zrepl/zrepl/zfs"
 )
 
 type DatasetMapFilter struct {
@@ -144,14 +145,46 @@ func (m DatasetMapFilter) Filter(p *zfs.DatasetPath) (pass bool, err error) {
 	return
 }
 
+// Construct a new filter-only DatasetMapFilter from a mapping
+// The new filter allows excactly those paths that were not forbidden by the mapping.
+func (m DatasetMapFilter) InvertedFilter() (inv *DatasetMapFilter, err error) {
+
+	if m.filterOnly {
+		err = errors.Errorf("can only invert mappings")
+		return
+	}
+
+	inv = &DatasetMapFilter{
+		make([]datasetMapFilterEntry, len(m.entries)),
+		true,
+	}
+
+	for i, e := range m.entries {
+		inv.entries[i].path, err = zfs.NewDatasetPath(e.mapping)
+		if err != nil {
+			err = errors.Wrapf(err, "mapping cannot be inverted: '%s' is not a dataset path: %s", e.mapping)
+			return
+		}
+		inv.entries[i].mapping = MapFilterResultOk
+		inv.entries[i].subtreeMatch = e.subtreeMatch
+	}
+
+	return inv, nil
+}
+
+const (
+	MapFilterResultOk   string = "ok"
+	MapFilterResultOmit string = "omit"
+)
+
 // Parse a dataset filter result
 func parseDatasetFilterResult(result string) (pass bool, err error) {
 	l := strings.ToLower(result)
 	switch strings.ToLower(l) {
-	case "ok":
+	case MapFilterResultOk:
 		pass = true
 		return
-	case "omit":
+	case MapFilterResultOmit:
 		return
 	default:
 		err = fmt.Errorf("'%s' is not a valid filter result", result)
diff --git a/cmd/config_test.go b/cmd/config_test.go
index 09b3826..58865ce 100644
--- a/cmd/config_test.go
+++ b/cmd/config_test.go
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import (
 	"testing"
 	"time"
 
+	"github.com/kr/pretty"
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
 	"github.com/zrepl/zrepl/util"
 	"github.com/zrepl/zrepl/zfs"
@@ -135,3 +136,36 @@ func TestDatasetMapFilter(t *testing.T) {
 	expectFilter(filter2, "foo", false) // default to omit
 
 }
+
+func TestDatasetMapFilter_InvertedFilter(t *testing.T) {
+	mapspec := map[string]string{
+		"a/b":      "1/2",
+		"a/b/c<":   "3",
+		"a/b/c/d<": "1/2/a",
+	}
+
+	m, err := parseDatasetMapFilter(mapspec, false)
+	assert.Nil(t, err)
+
+	inv, err := m.InvertedFilter()
+	assert.Nil(t, err)
+
+	t.Log(pretty.Sprint(inv))
+
+	expectMapping := func(m *DatasetMapFilter, ps string, expRes bool) {
+		p, err := zfs.NewDatasetPath(ps)
+		assert.Nil(t, err)
+		r, err := m.Filter(p)
+		assert.Nil(t, err)
+		assert.Equal(t, expRes, r)
+	}
+
+	expectMapping(inv, "4", false)
+	expectMapping(inv, "3", true)
+	expectMapping(inv, "3/x", true)
+	expectMapping(inv, "1", false)
+	expectMapping(inv, "1/2", true)
+	expectMapping(inv, "1/2/3", false)
+	expectMapping(inv, "1/2/a/b", true)
+
+}