diff --git a/lib/ansible/inventory/ini.py b/lib/ansible/inventory/ini.py
index c50fae61164..024eb9a9a0e 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/inventory/ini.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/inventory/ini.py
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ from ansible.inventory.group import Group
 from ansible.inventory.expand_hosts import detect_range
 from ansible.inventory.expand_hosts import expand_hostname_range
 from ansible import errors
+from ansible import utils
 import shlex
 import re
 import ast
@@ -65,7 +66,7 @@ class InventoryParser(object):
         active_group_name = 'ungrouped'
 
         for line in self.lines:
-            line = line.split("#")[0].strip()
+            line = utils.before_comment(line).strip()
             if line.startswith("[") and line.endswith("]"):
                 active_group_name = line.replace("[","").replace("]","")
                 if line.find(":vars") != -1 or line.find(":children") != -1:
diff --git a/lib/ansible/utils/__init__.py b/lib/ansible/utils/__init__.py
index 02148faff0c..c3e777e4d65 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/utils/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/utils/__init__.py
@@ -1071,3 +1071,12 @@ def random_password(length=20, chars=C.DEFAULT_PASSWORD_CHARS):
             password.append(new_char)
 
     return ''.join(password)
+
+def before_comment(msg):
+    ''' what's the part of a string before a comment? '''
+    msg = msg.replace("\#","**NOT_A_COMMENT**")
+    msg = msg.split("#")[0]
+    msg = msg.replace("**NOT_A_COMMENT**","#")
+    return msg
+
+
diff --git a/test/units/TestUtils.py b/test/units/TestUtils.py
index 4bddb4748ba..28e0dfc0cd2 100644
--- a/test/units/TestUtils.py
+++ b/test/units/TestUtils.py
@@ -16,6 +16,29 @@ sys.setdefaultencoding("utf8")
 
 class TestUtils(unittest.TestCase):
 
+    def test_before_comment(self):
+        ''' see if we can detect the part of a string before a comment.  Used by INI parser in inventory '''
+ 
+        input    = "before # comment"
+        expected = "before "
+        actual   = ansible.utils.before_comment(input)
+        assert expected == actual
+
+        input    = "before \# not a comment"
+        expected = "before # not a comment"
+        actual  =  ansible.utils.before_comment(input)
+        assert expected == actual
+
+        input = ""
+        expected = ""
+        actual = ansible.utils.before_comment(input)
+        assert expected == actual
+
+        input = "#"
+        expected = ""
+        actual = ansible.utils.before_comment(input)
+        assert expected == actual 
+
     #####################################
     ### check_conditional tests