diff --git a/src/include/ngspice/wordlist.h b/src/include/ngspice/wordlist.h
index 5273973fc..930b6df00 100644
--- a/src/include/ngspice/wordlist.h
+++ b/src/include/ngspice/wordlist.h
@@ -31,6 +31,8 @@ void wl_append_word(wordlist **first, wordlist **last, char *word);
 wordlist *wl_chop(wordlist *wlist);
 wordlist *wl_chop_rest(wordlist *wlist);
 
+wordlist *wl_find(const char *string, wordlist *wlist);
+
 
 /* For quoting individual characters. '' strings are all quoted, but
  * `` and "" strings are maintained as single words with the quotes
diff --git a/src/misc/wlist.c b/src/misc/wlist.c
index 822534e4f..0701eab0e 100644
--- a/src/misc/wlist.c
+++ b/src/misc/wlist.c
@@ -353,3 +353,17 @@ wl_chop_rest(wordlist *wl)
         rest->wl_prev = NULL;
     return rest;
 }
+
+
+/*
+ * search for a string in a wordlist
+ */
+
+wordlist *
+wl_find(const char *string, wordlist *wl)
+{
+    for (; wl; wl = wl->wl_next)
+        if (eq(string, wl->wl_word))
+            break;
+    return wl;
+}