diff --git a/pcmdi_metrics/io/region_from_file.py b/pcmdi_metrics/io/region_from_file.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..ce43aebd9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pcmdi_metrics/io/region_from_file.py
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+import geopandas as gpd
+import regionmask
+import xarray as xr
+import xcdat
+
+def region_from_file(data,rgn_path,attr,feature):
+    # Return data masked from a feature in input file.
+    # Arguments:
+    #    data: xcdat dataset
+    #    feature: str, name of region
+    #    rgn_path: str, path to file
+    #    attr: str, attribute name
+
+    lon = data["lon"].data
+    lat = data["lat"].data
+
+    print("Reading region from file.")
+    try:
+        regions_df = gpd.read_file(rgn_path)
+        regions = regionmask.from_geopandas(regions_df,names=attr)
+        mask = regions.mask(lon, lat)
+        # Can't match mask by name, rather index of name
+        val = list(regions_df[attr]).index(feature)
+    except Exception as e:
+        print("Error in creating region subset from file:")
+        raise e
+    
+    try:
+        masked_data = data.where(mask == val)
+    except Exception as e:
+        print("Error: Region selection failed.")
+        raise e
+
+    return  masked_data