diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 024486977..be63e690f 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -156,12 +156,8 @@ dependencies = [
 name = "chmod"
 version = "0.0.1"
 dependencies = [
- "aho-corasick 0.4.0 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
  "getopts 0.2.14 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
  "libc 0.2.4 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
- "memchr 0.1.7 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
- "regex 0.1.44 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
- "regex-syntax 0.2.2 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
  "uucore 0.0.1",
  "walker 1.0.0 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
 ]
diff --git a/src/chmod/Cargo.toml b/src/chmod/Cargo.toml
index a85059a93..40914154f 100644
--- a/src/chmod/Cargo.toml
+++ b/src/chmod/Cargo.toml
@@ -10,10 +10,6 @@ path = "chmod.rs"
 [dependencies]
 getopts = "*"
 libc = "*"
-aho-corasick = "*"
-memchr = "*"
-regex = "*"
-regex-syntax = "*"
 uucore = { path="../uucore" }
 walker = "*"
 
diff --git a/src/chmod/chmod.rs b/src/chmod/chmod.rs
index 105021fea..341cc8255 100644
--- a/src/chmod/chmod.rs
+++ b/src/chmod/chmod.rs
@@ -9,10 +9,8 @@
  * file that was distributed with this source code.
  */
 
-extern crate aho_corasick;
 extern crate getopts;
 extern crate libc;
-extern crate memchr;
 extern crate walker;
 
 #[macro_use]
@@ -29,7 +27,7 @@ use walker::Walker;
 const NAME: &'static str = "chmod";
 const VERSION: &'static str = env!("CARGO_PKG_VERSION");
 
-pub fn uumain(args: Vec<String>) -> i32 {
+pub fn uumain(mut args: Vec<String>) -> i32 {
     let mut opts = Options::new();
     opts.optflag("c", "changes", "like verbose but report only when a change is made (unimplemented)");
     opts.optflag("f", "quiet", "suppress most error messages (unimplemented)"); // TODO: support --silent
@@ -40,7 +38,27 @@ pub fn uumain(args: Vec<String>) -> i32 {
     opts.optflag("R", "recursive", "change files and directories recursively");
     opts.optflag("h", "help", "display this help and exit");
     opts.optflag("V", "version", "output version information and exit");
-    // TODO: sanitize input for - at beginning (e.g. chmod -x testfile).  Solution is to add a to -x, making a-x
+    // sanitize input for - at beginning (e.g. chmod -x testfile). Remove
+    // the option and save it for later, after parsing is finished.
+    let mut negative_option = None;
+    for i in 0..args.len() {
+        if let Some(first) = args[i].chars().nth(0) {
+            if first != '-' {
+                continue;
+            }
+
+            if let Some(second) = args[i].chars().nth(1) {
+                match second {
+                    'r' | 'w' | 'x' | 'X' | 's' | 't' | 'u' | 'g' | 'o' | '0' ... '7' => {
+                        negative_option = Some(args.remove(i));
+                        break;
+                    },
+                    _ => {}
+                }
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
     let mut matches = match opts.parse(&args[1..]) {
         Ok(m) => m,
         Err(f) => { crash!(1, "{}", f) }
@@ -86,7 +104,13 @@ Each MODE is of the form '[ugoa]*([-+=]([rwxXst]*|[ugo]))+|[-+=]?[0-7]+'.",
         });
         let cmode =
             if fmode.is_none() {
-                Some(matches.free.remove(0))
+                // If there was a negative option, now it's a good time to
+                // use it.
+                if negative_option.is_some() {
+                    negative_option
+                } else {
+                    Some(matches.free.remove(0))
+                }
             } else {
                 None
             };
diff --git a/tests/chmod.rs b/tests/chmod.rs
index ac476a573..a00cb5417 100644
--- a/tests/chmod.rs
+++ b/tests/chmod.rs
@@ -24,18 +24,14 @@ fn mkfile(file: &str, mode: mode_t) {
     std::fs::set_permissions(file, perms).unwrap();
 }
 
-fn run_tests(tests: Vec<TestCase>) {
-    for test in tests {
-        let (at, mut ucmd) = testing(UTIL_NAME);
-
+fn run_single_test(test: &TestCase, at: AtPath, mut ucmd: UCommand) {
         mkfile(&at.plus_as_string(TEST_FILE), test.before);
-        mkfile(&at.plus_as_string(REFERENCE_FILE), REFERENCE_PERMS);
         let perms = at.metadata(TEST_FILE).permissions().mode();
         if perms != test.before{
             panic!(format!("{}: expected: {:o} got: {:o}", "setting permissions failed", test.after, perms));
         }
 
-        for arg in test.args {
+        for arg in &test.args {
             ucmd.arg(arg);
         }
         let r = ucmd.run();
@@ -48,6 +44,12 @@ fn run_tests(tests: Vec<TestCase>) {
         if perms != test.after {
             panic!(format!("{:?}: expected: {:o} got: {:o}", ucmd.raw, test.after, perms));
         }
+}
+
+fn run_tests(tests: Vec<TestCase>) {
+    for test in tests {
+        let (at, ucmd) = testing(UTIL_NAME);
+        run_single_test(&test, at, ucmd);
     }
 }
 
@@ -57,10 +59,9 @@ fn test_chmod_octal() {
         TestCase{args: vec!{"0700",  TEST_FILE}, before: 0o000, after: 0o700},
         TestCase{args: vec!{"0070",  TEST_FILE}, before: 0o000, after: 0o070},
         TestCase{args: vec!{"0007",  TEST_FILE}, before: 0o000, after: 0o007},
-        // Known failues: #788
-        // TestCase{args: vec!{"-0700", TEST_FILE}, before: 0o700, after: 0o000},
-        // TestCase{args: vec!{"-0070", TEST_FILE}, before: 0o060, after: 0o000},
-        // TestCase{args: vec!{"-0007", TEST_FILE}, before: 0o001, after: 0o000},
+        TestCase{args: vec!{"-0700", TEST_FILE}, before: 0o700, after: 0o000},
+        TestCase{args: vec!{"-0070", TEST_FILE}, before: 0o060, after: 0o000},
+        TestCase{args: vec!{"-0007", TEST_FILE}, before: 0o001, after: 0o000},
         TestCase{args: vec!{"+0100", TEST_FILE}, before: 0o600, after: 0o700},
         TestCase{args: vec!{"+0020", TEST_FILE}, before: 0o050, after: 0o070},
         TestCase{args: vec!{"+0004", TEST_FILE}, before: 0o003, after: 0o007},
@@ -75,6 +76,9 @@ fn test_chmod_ugoa() {
         TestCase{args: vec!{"g=rwx", TEST_FILE}, before: 0o000, after: 0o070},
         TestCase{args: vec!{"o=rwx", TEST_FILE}, before: 0o000, after: 0o007},
         TestCase{args: vec!{"a=rwx", TEST_FILE}, before: 0o000, after: 0o777},
+        TestCase{args: vec!{"-r", TEST_FILE}, before: 0o777, after: 0o333},
+        TestCase{args: vec!{"-w", TEST_FILE}, before: 0o777, after: 0o555},
+        TestCase{args: vec!{"-x", TEST_FILE}, before: 0o777, after: 0o666},
     };
     run_tests(tests);
 }
@@ -92,9 +96,20 @@ fn test_chmod_ugo_copy() {
 }
 
 #[test]
-fn test_chmod_reference_file() {
+fn test_chmod_many_options() {
     let tests = vec!{
-        TestCase{args: vec!{"--reference", REFERENCE_FILE, TEST_FILE}, before: 0o070, after: 0o247},
+        TestCase{args: vec!{"-r,a+w", TEST_FILE}, before: 0o444, after: 0o222},
     };
     run_tests(tests);
 }
+
+#[test]
+fn test_chmod_reference_file() {
+    let tests = vec!{
+        TestCase{args: vec!{"--reference", REFERENCE_FILE, TEST_FILE}, before: 0o070, after: 0o247},
+        TestCase{args: vec!{"a-w", "--reference", REFERENCE_FILE, TEST_FILE}, before: 0o070, after: 0o247},
+    };
+    let (at, ucmd) = testing(UTIL_NAME);
+    mkfile(&at.plus_as_string(REFERENCE_FILE), REFERENCE_PERMS);
+    run_single_test(&tests[0], at, ucmd);
+}