diff --git a/hgext3rd/sparse.py b/hgext3rd/sparse.py
--- a/hgext3rd/sparse.py
+++ b/hgext3rd/sparse.py
@@ -627,6 +627,7 @@
     ('', 'clear-rules', False, _('clears local include/exclude rules')),
     ('', 'refresh', False, _('updates the working after sparseness changes')),
     ('', 'reset', False, _('makes the repo full again')),
+    ('', 'cwd-list', False, _('get contents of the current directory')),
     ] + commands.templateopts,
     _('[--OPTION] PATTERN...'))
 def sparse(ui, repo, *pats, **opts):
@@ -668,6 +669,10 @@
     --clear-rules removes all local include and exclude rules, while leaving
     any enabled profiles in place.
 
+    --cwd-list list all the contents of the current directory. The files
+    in the sparse profile are annotated with a hyphen ('-') before the
+    name.
+
     The following config option defines whether sparse treats supplied
     paths as relative to repo root or to the current working dir for
     include and exclude options:
@@ -694,8 +699,9 @@
     delete = opts.get('delete')
     refresh = opts.get('refresh')
     reset = opts.get('reset')
+    cwdlist = opts.get('cwd_list')
     count = sum([include, exclude, enableprofile, disableprofile, delete,
-                 importrules, refresh, clearrules, reset])
+                 importrules, refresh, clearrules, reset, cwdlist])
     if count > 1:
         raise error.Abort(_("too many flags specified"))
 
@@ -731,6 +737,9 @@
         finally:
             wlock.release()
 
+    if cwdlist:
+        _cwdlist(repo)
+
 def _config(ui, repo, pats, opts, include=False, exclude=False, reset=False,
             delete=False, enableprofile=False, disableprofile=False,
             force=False):
@@ -1004,6 +1013,43 @@
             fm.condwrite(ui.verbose, 'files_conflicting',
                          'Files conflicting: %d\n', lookup)
 
+def _cwdlist(repo):
+    """ List the contents in the current directory. Annotate
+    the files in the sparse profile.
+    """
+    ctx = repo['.']
+    files = ctx.manifest()
+    cwd = os.getcwd()
+    cwd = util.normpath(cwd)
+    # Get the root of the repo so that we remove the content of
+    # the root from the current working directory
+    root = repo.root
+    if cwd.startswith(root):
+        cwd = cwd[len(root):]
+    else:
+        raise error.Abort(_("the current working directory should begin " +
+            "with the root %s"% root))
+    cwd = cwd.strip("/")
+    sparsematch = repo.sparsematch(ctx.rev())
+    checkedoutfolders = set()
+    allfolders = set()
+    cwdlength = len(cwd)+1
+    for file in files:
+        if file.startswith(cwd):
+            tail = file[cwdlength:] if cwdlength > 1 else file
+           # tail = file[filelength:]
+            foldername = tail.split('/')[0]
+            if sparsematch(file):
+                # A set of all the folders in the current directory
+                # in the checkout
+                checkedoutfolders.add(foldername)
+                # A set of all folders in the current directory
+            allfolders.add(foldername)
+
+    for folder in sorted(allfolders):
+        marker = ' ' if folder in checkedoutfolders else '-'
+        repo.ui.status("%s %s\n" % (marker, folder))
+
 class forceincludematcher(object):
     """A matcher that returns true for any of the forced includes before testing
     against the actual matcher."""