diff --git a/docs/topics/http/urls.txt b/docs/topics/http/urls.txt
index a7dbb72462..f4cf4b6029 100644
--- a/docs/topics/http/urls.txt
+++ b/docs/topics/http/urls.txt
@@ -368,6 +368,42 @@ the following example is valid::
 In the above example, the captured ``"username"`` variable is passed to the
 included URLconf, as expected.
 
+Nested arguments
+================
+
+Regular expressions allow nested arguments, and Django will resolve them and
+pass them to the view. When reversing, Django will try to fill in all outer
+captured arguments, ignoring any nested captured arguments. Consider the
+following URL patterns which optionally take a page argument::
+
+    from django.conf.urls import url
+
+    urlpatterns = [
+        url(r'blog/(page-(\d+)/)?$', blog_articles),                  # bad
+        url(r'comments/(?:page-(?P<page_number>\d+)/)?$', comments),  # good
+    ]
+
+Both patterns use nested arguments and will resolve: for example,
+``blog/page-2/`` will result in a match to ``blog_articles`` with two
+positional arguments: ``page-2/`` and ``2``. The second pattern for
+``comments`` will match ``comments/page-2/`` with keyword argument
+``page_number`` set to 2. The outer argument in this case is a non-capturing
+argument ``(?:...)``.
+
+The ``blog_articles`` view needs the outermost captured argument to be reversed,
+``page-2/`` or no arguments in this case, while ``comments`` can be reversed
+with either no arguments or a value for ``page_number``.
+
+Nested captured arguments create a strong coupling between the view arguments
+and the URL as illustrated by ``blog_articles``: the view receives part of the
+URL (``page-2/``) instead of only the value the view is interested in. This
+coupling is even more pronounced when reversing, since to reverse the view we
+need to pass the piece of URL instead of the page number.
+
+As a rule of thumb, only capture the values the view needs to work with and
+use non-capturing arguments when the regular expression needs an argument but
+the view ignores it.
+
 .. _views-extra-options:
 
 Passing extra options to view functions
diff --git a/tests/urlpatterns_reverse/tests.py b/tests/urlpatterns_reverse/tests.py
index 7c8c17a928..8f8496a515 100644
--- a/tests/urlpatterns_reverse/tests.py
+++ b/tests/urlpatterns_reverse/tests.py
@@ -94,6 +94,12 @@ test_data = (
     ('people_backref', '/people/nate-nate/', [], {'name': 'nate'}),
     ('optional', '/optional/fred/', [], {'name': 'fred'}),
     ('optional', '/optional/fred/', ['fred'], {}),
+    ('named_optional', '/optional/1/', [1], {}),
+    ('named_optional', '/optional/1/', [], {'arg1': 1}),
+    ('named_optional', '/optional/1/2/', [1, 2], {}),
+    ('named_optional', '/optional/1/2/', [], {'arg1': 1, 'arg2': 2}),
+    ('named_optional_terminated', '/optional/1/2/', [1, 2], {}),
+    ('named_optional_terminated', '/optional/1/2/', [], {'arg1': 1, 'arg2': 2}),
     ('hardcoded', '/hardcoded/', [], {}),
     ('hardcoded2', '/hardcoded/doc.pdf', [], {}),
     ('people3', '/people/il/adrian/', [], {'state': 'il', 'name': 'adrian'}),
@@ -142,6 +148,17 @@ test_data = (
     ('part2', '/prefix/xx/part2/one/', [], {'value': 'one', 'prefix': 'xx'}),
     ('part2', '/prefix/xx/part2/', [], {'prefix': 'xx'}),
 
+    # Tests for nested groups. Nested capturing groups will only work if you
+    # *only* supply the correct outer group.
+    ('nested-noncapture', '/nested/noncapture/opt', [], {'p': 'opt'}),
+    ('nested-capture', '/nested/capture/opt/', ['opt/'], {}),
+    ('nested-capture', NoReverseMatch, [], {'p': 'opt'}),
+    ('nested-mixedcapture', '/nested/capture/mixed/opt', ['opt'], {}),
+    ('nested-mixedcapture', NoReverseMatch, [], {'p': 'opt'}),
+    ('nested-namedcapture', '/nested/capture/named/opt/', [], {'outer': 'opt/'}),
+    ('nested-namedcapture', NoReverseMatch, [], {'outer': 'opt/', 'inner': 'opt'}),
+    ('nested-namedcapture', NoReverseMatch, [], {'inner': 'opt'}),
+
     # Regression for #9038
     # These views are resolved by method name. Each method is deployed twice -
     # once with an explicit argument, and once using the default value on
diff --git a/tests/urlpatterns_reverse/urls.py b/tests/urlpatterns_reverse/urls.py
index 9b5a5f29fa..d6b692d220 100644
--- a/tests/urlpatterns_reverse/urls.py
+++ b/tests/urlpatterns_reverse/urls.py
@@ -32,6 +32,12 @@ with warnings.catch_warnings():
         url(r'^people/(?:name/(\w+)/)?', empty_view, name="people2a"),
         url(r'^people/(?P<name>\w+)-(?P=name)/$', empty_view, name="people_backref"),
         url(r'^optional/(?P<name>.*)/(?:.+/)?', empty_view, name="optional"),
+        url(r'^optional/(?P<arg1>\d+)/(?:(?P<arg2>\d+)/)?', absolute_kwargs_view, name="named_optional"),
+        url(r'^optional/(?P<arg1>\d+)/(?:(?P<arg2>\d+)/)?$', absolute_kwargs_view, name="named_optional_terminated"),
+        url(r'^nested/noncapture/(?:(?P<p>\w+))$', empty_view, name='nested-noncapture'),
+        url(r'^nested/capture/((\w+)/)?$', empty_view, name='nested-capture'),
+        url(r'^nested/capture/mixed/((?P<p>\w+))$', empty_view, name='nested-mixedcapture'),
+        url(r'^nested/capture/named/(?P<outer>(?P<inner>\w+)/)?$', empty_view, name='nested-namedcapture'),
         url(r'^hardcoded/$', empty_view, name="hardcoded"),
         url(r'^hardcoded/doc\.pdf$', empty_view, name="hardcoded2"),
         url(r'^people/(?P<state>\w\w)/(?P<name>\w+)/$', empty_view, name="people3"),