diff --git a/tools/runner.py b/tools/runner.py
index bf28d9ad..8e9530a0 100644
--- a/tools/runner.py
+++ b/tools/runner.py
@@ -72,7 +72,10 @@ class RunnerNamespace(Namespace):
 			if v in [None, False, [], '']:
 				continue
 
-			ret += '%s=%s ' % (k, str(v))
+			if type(v) is list:
+				ret += '%s=%s ' % (k, ','.join(v))
+			else:
+				ret += '%s=%s ' % (k, str(v))
 
 		return ret.strip()
 
@@ -89,7 +92,7 @@ class RunnerCoreArgParse(ArgumentParser):
 				default=None,
 				type=os.path.abspath)
 		self.add_argument('--verbose', '-v', metavar='<list>',
-				type=str,
+				type=lambda x: x.split(','),
 				help='Comma separated list of applications',
 				dest='verbose',
 				default=[])
diff --git a/tools/utils.py b/tools/utils.py
index 55db4227..d16f221f 100644
--- a/tools/utils.py
+++ b/tools/utils.py
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ import dbus
 
 from gi.repository import GLib
 from weakref import WeakValueDictionary
-from glob import glob
+from re import match
 
 from runner import RunnerCoreArgParse
 
@@ -95,10 +95,13 @@ class Process(subprocess.Popen):
 		if process == 'valgrind' and 'iwd' in Process.testargs.verbose:
 			return True
 
-		# Handle any glob matches
+		# Handle any regex matches
 		for item in Process.testargs.verbose:
-			if process in glob(item):
-				return True
+			try:
+				if match(item, process):
+					return True
+			except Exception as e:
+				print("%s is not a valid regex" % item)
 
 		return False