diff --git a/lib/versionmanager.js b/lib/versionmanager.js
index 709b1a87..28ea0d44 100644
--- a/lib/versionmanager.js
+++ b/lib/versionmanager.js
@@ -155,7 +155,7 @@ function composeFilter(filterPattern) {
   }
   // array
   else if (Array.isArray(filterPattern)) {
-    predicate = s => filterPattern.includes(s)
+    predicate = s => filterPattern.some(subpattern => composeFilter(subpattern)(s))
   }
   // raw RegExp
   else if (filterPattern instanceof RegExp) {
diff --git a/test/filter.test.js b/test/filter.test.js
index 4c0539ed..3a714f00 100644
--- a/test/filter.test.js
+++ b/test/filter.test.js
@@ -57,4 +57,68 @@ describe('filter', () => {
     upgraded.should.have.property('lodash')
   })
 
+  it('filter with regex string', async () => {
+    const upgraded = await ncu.run({
+      packageData: JSON.stringify({
+        dependencies: {
+          lodash: '2.0.0',
+          'lodash.map': '2.0.0',
+          'lodash.filter': '2.0.0'
+        }
+      }),
+      filter: '/lodash\\..*/'
+    })
+    upgraded.should.have.property('lodash.map')
+    upgraded.should.have.property('lodash.filter')
+  })
+
+  it('filter with array of strings', async () => {
+    const upgraded = await ncu.run({
+      packageData: JSON.stringify({
+        dependencies: {
+          lodash: '2.0.0',
+          'lodash.map': '2.0.0',
+          'lodash.filter': '2.0.0'
+        }
+      }),
+      filter: ['lodash.map', 'lodash.filter']
+    })
+    upgraded.should.have.property('lodash.map')
+    upgraded.should.have.property('lodash.filter')
+  })
+
+  it('filter with array of regex', async () => {
+    const upgraded = await ncu.run({
+      packageData: JSON.stringify({
+        dependencies: {
+          'fp-and-or': '0.1.0',
+          lodash: '2.0.0',
+          'lodash.map': '2.0.0',
+          'lodash.filter': '2.0.0'
+        }
+      }),
+      filter: [/lodash\..*/, /fp.*/]
+    })
+    upgraded.should.have.property('lodash.map')
+    upgraded.should.have.property('lodash.filter')
+    upgraded.should.have.property('fp-and-or')
+  })
+
+  it('filter with array of regex strings', async () => {
+    const upgraded = await ncu.run({
+      packageData: JSON.stringify({
+        dependencies: {
+          'fp-and-or': '0.1.0',
+          lodash: '2.0.0',
+          'lodash.map': '2.0.0',
+          'lodash.filter': '2.0.0'
+        }
+      }),
+      filter: ['/lodash\\..*/', '/fp.*/']
+    })
+    upgraded.should.have.property('lodash.map')
+    upgraded.should.have.property('lodash.filter')
+    upgraded.should.have.property('fp-and-or')
+  })
+
 })