diff --git a/tools/gpio/gpio-utils.h b/tools/gpio/gpio-utils.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b18209a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/gpio/gpio-utils.h
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+/*
+ * GPIO tools - utility helpers library for the GPIO tools
+ *
+ * Copyright (C) 2015 Linus Walleij
+ *
+ * Portions copied from iio_utils and lssio:
+ * Copyright (c) 2010 Manuel Stahl <manuel.stahl@iis.fraunhofer.de>
+ * Copyright (c) 2008 Jonathan Cameron
+ * *
+ * This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
+ * under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2 as published by
+ * the Free Software Foundation.
+ */
+#ifndef _GPIO_UTILS_H_
+#define _GPIO_UTILS_H_
+
+#include <string.h>
+
+static inline int check_prefix(const char *str, const char *prefix)
+{
+	return strlen(str) > strlen(prefix) &&
+		strncmp(str, prefix, strlen(prefix)) == 0;
+}
+
+#endif /* _GPIO_UTILS_H_ */