diff --git a/pkg/policy/literal/literal.go b/pkg/policy/literal/literal.go
index 23e4e59..48f813f 100644
--- a/pkg/policy/literal/literal.go
+++ b/pkg/policy/literal/literal.go
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+// Package literal holds a collection of functions to create IPLD types to use in policies, selector and args.
 package literal
 
 import (
diff --git a/pkg/policy/match.go b/pkg/policy/match.go
index 178b862..ed18587 100644
--- a/pkg/policy/match.go
+++ b/pkg/policy/match.go
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/ipld/go-ipld-prime/must"
 )
 
-// Match determines if the IPLD node matches the policy document.
+// Match determines if the IPLD node satisfies the policy.
 func (p Policy) Match(node datamodel.Node) bool {
 	for _, stmt := range p {
 		ok := matchStatement(stmt, node)
@@ -20,6 +20,20 @@ func (p Policy) Match(node datamodel.Node) bool {
 	return true
 }
 
+// Filter performs a recursive filtering of the Statement, and prunes what doesn't match the given path
+func (p Policy) Filter(path ...string) Policy {
+	var filtered Policy
+
+	for _, stmt := range p {
+		newChild, remain := filter(stmt, path)
+		if newChild != nil && len(remain) == 0 {
+			filtered = append(filtered, newChild)
+		}
+	}
+
+	return filtered
+}
+
 func matchStatement(statement Statement, node ipld.Node) bool {
 	switch statement.Kind() {
 	case KindEqual:
@@ -153,6 +167,70 @@ func matchStatement(statement Statement, node ipld.Node) bool {
 	panic(fmt.Errorf("unimplemented statement kind: %s", statement.Kind()))
 }
 
+// filter performs a recursive filtering of the Statement, and prunes what doesn't match the given path
+func filter(stmt Statement, path []string) (Statement, []string) {
+	// For each kind, we do some of the following if it applies:
+	// - test the path against the selector, consuming segments
+	// - for terminal statements (equality, wildcard), require all the segments to have been consumed
+	// - recursively filter child (negation, quantifier) or children (connective) statements with the remaining path
+	switch stmt.(type) {
+	case equality:
+		match, remain := stmt.(equality).selector.MatchPath(path...)
+		if match && len(remain) == 0 {
+			return stmt, remain
+		}
+		return nil, nil
+	case negation:
+		newChild, remain := filter(stmt.(negation).statement, path)
+		if newChild != nil && len(remain) == 0 {
+			return negation{
+				statement: newChild,
+			}, nil
+		}
+		return nil, nil
+	case connective:
+		var newChildren []Statement
+		for _, child := range stmt.(connective).statements {
+			newChild, remain := filter(child, path)
+			if newChild != nil && len(remain) == 0 {
+				newChildren = append(newChildren, newChild)
+			}
+		}
+		if len(newChildren) == 0 {
+			return nil, nil
+		}
+		return connective{
+			kind:       stmt.(connective).kind,
+			statements: newChildren,
+		}, nil
+	case wildcard:
+		match, remain := stmt.(wildcard).selector.MatchPath(path...)
+		if match && len(remain) == 0 {
+			return stmt, remain
+		}
+		return nil, nil
+	case quantifier:
+		match, remain := stmt.(quantifier).selector.MatchPath(path...)
+		if match && len(remain) == 0 {
+			return stmt, remain
+		}
+		if !match {
+			return nil, nil
+		}
+		newChild, remain := filter(stmt.(quantifier).statement, remain)
+		if newChild != nil && len(remain) == 0 {
+			return quantifier{
+				kind:      stmt.(quantifier).kind,
+				selector:  stmt.(quantifier).selector,
+				statement: newChild,
+			}, nil
+		}
+		return nil, nil
+	default:
+		panic(fmt.Errorf("unimplemented statement kind: %s", stmt.Kind()))
+	}
+}
+
 func isOrdered(expected ipld.Node, actual ipld.Node, satisfies func(order int) bool) bool {
 	if expected.Kind() == ipld.Kind_Int && actual.Kind() == ipld.Kind_Int {
 		a := must.Int(actual)
diff --git a/pkg/policy/match_test.go b/pkg/policy/match_test.go
index 9e3de4a..0aac982 100644
--- a/pkg/policy/match_test.go
+++ b/pkg/policy/match_test.go
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ package policy
 
 import (
 	"fmt"
+	"strings"
 	"testing"
 
 	"github.com/ipfs/go-cid"
@@ -512,3 +513,103 @@ func FuzzMatch(f *testing.F) {
 		policy.Match(dataNode)
 	})
 }
+
+func TestPolicyFilter(t *testing.T) {
+	pol := MustConstruct(
+		Any(".http", And(
+			Equal(".method", literal.String("GET")),
+			Equal(".path", literal.String("/foo")),
+		)),
+		Equal(".http", literal.String("foobar")),
+		All(".jsonrpc.foo", Or(
+			Not(Equal(".bar", literal.String("foo"))),
+			Equal(".", literal.String("foo")),
+			Like(".boo", "abcd"),
+			Like(".boo", "*bcd"),
+		)),
+	)
+
+	for _, tc := range []struct {
+		path     string
+		expected Policy
+	}{
+		{
+			path: "http",
+			expected: MustConstruct(
+				Any(".http", And(
+					Equal(".method", literal.String("GET")),
+					Equal(".path", literal.String("/foo")),
+				)),
+				Equal(".http", literal.String("foobar")),
+			),
+		},
+		{
+			path: "http,method",
+			expected: MustConstruct(
+				Any(".http", And(
+					Equal(".method", literal.String("GET")),
+				)),
+			),
+		},
+		{
+			path: "http,path",
+			expected: MustConstruct(
+				Any(".http", And(
+					Equal(".path", literal.String("/foo")),
+				)),
+			),
+		},
+		{
+			path:     "http,foo",
+			expected: Policy{},
+		},
+		{
+			path: "jsonrpc",
+			expected: MustConstruct(
+				All(".jsonrpc.foo", Or(
+					Not(Equal(".bar", literal.String("foo"))),
+					Equal(".", literal.String("foo")),
+					Like(".boo", "abcd"),
+					Like(".boo", "*bcd"),
+				)),
+			),
+		},
+		{
+			path:     "jsonrpc,baz",
+			expected: Policy{},
+		},
+		{
+			path: "jsonrpc,foo",
+			expected: MustConstruct(
+				All(".jsonrpc.foo", Or(
+					Not(Equal(".bar", literal.String("foo"))),
+					Equal(".", literal.String("foo")),
+					Like(".boo", "abcd"),
+					Like(".boo", "*bcd"),
+				)),
+			),
+		},
+		{
+			path: "jsonrpc,foo,bar",
+			expected: MustConstruct(
+				All(".jsonrpc.foo", Or(
+					Not(Equal(".bar", literal.String("foo"))),
+				)),
+			),
+		},
+		{
+			path: "jsonrpc,foo,boo",
+			expected: MustConstruct(
+				All(".jsonrpc.foo", Or(
+					Like(".boo", "abcd"),
+					Like(".boo", "*bcd"),
+				)),
+			),
+		},
+	} {
+		t.Run(tc.path, func(t *testing.T) {
+			res := pol.Filter(strings.Split(tc.path, ",")...)
+			require.Equal(t, tc.expected.String(), res.String())
+		})
+	}
+}
diff --git a/pkg/policy/selector/parsing.go b/pkg/policy/selector/parsing.go
index 887be6c..16843e2 100644
--- a/pkg/policy/selector/parsing.go
+++ b/pkg/policy/selector/parsing.go
@@ -2,11 +2,17 @@ package selector
 
 import (
 	"fmt"
+	"regexp"
 	"strconv"
 	"strings"
 )
 
-var identity = Selector{segment{".", true, false, false, nil, "", 0}}
+var (
+	identity   = Selector{segment{str: ".", identity: true}}
+	indexRegex = regexp.MustCompile(`^-?\d+$`)
+	sliceRegex = regexp.MustCompile(`^((\-?\d+:\-?\d*)|(\-?\d*:\-?\d+))$`)
+	fieldRegex = regexp.MustCompile(`^\.[a-zA-Z_]*?$`)
+)
 
 func Parse(str string) (Selector, error) {
 	if len(str) == 0 {
@@ -32,9 +38,9 @@ func Parse(str string) (Selector, error) {
 			if len(sel) > 0 && sel[len(sel)-1].Identity() {
 				return nil, newParseError("selector contains unsupported recursive descent segment: '..'", str, col, tok)
 			}
-			sel = append(sel, segment{".", true, false, false, nil, "", 0})
+			sel = append(sel, segment{str: ".", identity: true})
 		case "[]":
-			sel = append(sel, segment{tok, false, opt, true, nil, "", 0})
+			sel = append(sel, segment{str: tok, optional: opt, iterator: true})
 		default:
 			if strings.HasPrefix(seg, "[") && strings.HasSuffix(seg, "]") {
 				lookup := seg[1 : len(seg)-1]
diff --git a/pkg/policy/selector/selector.go b/pkg/policy/selector/selector.go
index f5ed2ad..b0c49ac 100644
--- a/pkg/policy/selector/selector.go
+++ b/pkg/policy/selector/selector.go
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@ package selector
 
 import (
 	"fmt"
-	"regexp"
 	"strings"
 
 	"github.com/ipld/go-ipld-prime"
@@ -21,6 +20,12 @@ func (s Selector) Select(subject ipld.Node) (ipld.Node, []ipld.Node, error) {
 	return resolve(s, subject, nil)
 }
 
+// MatchPath tells if the selector operates on the given (string only) path segments.
+// It returns the segments that didn't get consumed by the matching.
+func (s Selector) MatchPath(pathSegment ...string) (bool, []string) {
+	return matchPath(s, pathSegment)
+}
+
 func (s Selector) String() string {
 	var res strings.Builder
 	for _, seg := range s {
@@ -29,12 +34,6 @@ func (s Selector) String() string {
 	return res.String()
 }
 
-var (
-	indexRegex = regexp.MustCompile(`^-?\d+$`)
-	sliceRegex = regexp.MustCompile(`^((\-?\d+:\-?\d*)|(\-?\d*:\-?\d+))$`)
-	fieldRegex = regexp.MustCompile(`^\.[a-zA-Z_]*?$`)
-)
-
 type segment struct {
 	str      string
 	identity bool
@@ -316,7 +315,7 @@ func resolve(sel Selector, subject ipld.Node, at []string) (ipld.Node, []ipld.No
 				}
 			}
 
-		default:
+		default: // Index()
 			at = append(at, fmt.Sprintf("%d", seg.Index()))
 			if cur == nil {
 				if seg.Optional() {
@@ -378,6 +377,39 @@ func resolve(sel Selector, subject ipld.Node, at []string) (ipld.Node, []ipld.No
 	return cur, nil, nil
 }
 
+func matchPath(sel Selector, path []string) (bool, []string) {
+	for _, seg := range sel {
+		if len(path) == 0 {
+			return true, path
+		}
+		switch {
+		case seg.Identity():
+			continue
+
+		case seg.Iterator():
+			// we have reached a [] iterator, it should have matched earlier
+			return false, nil
+
+		case seg.Field() != "":
+			// if exact match on the segment, we continue
+			if path[0] == seg.Field() {
+				path = path[1:]
+				continue
+			}
+			return false, nil
+
+		case seg.Slice() != nil:
+			// we have reached a [<int>:<int>] slicing, it should have matched earlier
+			return false, nil
+
+		default: // Index()
+			// we have reached a [<int>] indexing, it should have matched earlier
+			return false, nil
+		}
+	}
+	return true, path
+}
+
 // resolveSliceIndices resolves the start and end indices for slicing a list or byte array.
 //
 // It takes the slice indices from the selector segment and the length of the list or byte array,
diff --git a/pkg/policy/selector/selector_test.go b/pkg/policy/selector/selector_test.go
index fdbfd69..93e7fa0 100644
--- a/pkg/policy/selector/selector_test.go
+++ b/pkg/policy/selector/selector_test.go
@@ -431,6 +431,32 @@ func TestSelect(t *testing.T) {
 	})
 }
 
+func TestMatch(t *testing.T) {
+	for _, tc := range []struct {
+		sel       string
+		path      []string
+		want      bool
+		remaining []string
+	}{
+		{sel: ".foo.bar", path: []string{"foo", "bar"}, want: true, remaining: []string{}},
+		{sel: ".foo.bar", path: []string{"foo"}, want: true, remaining: []string{}},
+		{sel: ".foo.bar", path: []string{"foo", "bar", "baz"}, want: true, remaining: []string{"baz"}},
+		{sel: ".foo.bar", path: []string{"foo", "faa"}, want: false},
+		{sel: ".foo.[]", path: []string{"foo", "faa"}, want: false},
+		{sel: ".foo.[]", path: []string{"foo"}, want: true, remaining: []string{}},
+		{sel: ".foo.bar?", path: []string{"foo"}, want: true, remaining: []string{}},
+		{sel: ".foo.bar?", path: []string{"foo", "bar"}, want: true, remaining: []string{}},
+		{sel: ".foo.bar?", path: []string{"foo", "baz"}, want: false},
+	} {
+		t.Run(tc.sel, func(t *testing.T) {
+			sel := MustParse(tc.sel)
+			res, remain := sel.MatchPath(tc.path...)
+			require.Equal(t, tc.want, res)
+			require.EqualValues(t, tc.remaining, remain)
+		})
+	}
+}
+
 func FuzzParse(f *testing.F) {
 	selectorCorpus := []string{
 		`.`, `.[]`, `.[]?`, `.[][]?`, `.x`, `.["x"]`, `.[0]`, `.[-1]`, `.[0]`,