diff --git a/app/src/util/str_util.c b/app/src/util/str_util.c
index 352d1d2f..287c08de 100644
--- a/app/src/util/str_util.c
+++ b/app/src/util/str_util.c
@@ -140,6 +140,24 @@ parse_integer_with_suffix(const char *s, long *out) {
     return true;
 }
 
+bool
+strlist_contains(const char *list, char sep, const char *s) {
+    char *p;
+    do {
+        p = strchr(list, sep);
+
+        size_t token_len = p ? (size_t) (p - list) : strlen(list);
+        if (!strncmp(list, s, token_len)) {
+            return true;
+        }
+
+        if (p) {
+            list = p + 1;
+        }
+    } while (p);
+    return false;
+}
+
 size_t
 utf8_truncation_index(const char *utf8, size_t max_len) {
     size_t len = strlen(utf8);
diff --git a/app/src/util/str_util.h b/app/src/util/str_util.h
index 25bec444..c016a625 100644
--- a/app/src/util/str_util.h
+++ b/app/src/util/str_util.h
@@ -43,6 +43,11 @@ parse_integers(const char *s, const char sep, size_t max_items, long *out);
 bool
 parse_integer_with_suffix(const char *s, long *out);
 
+// search s in the list separated by sep
+// for example, strlist_contains("a,bc,def", ',', "bc") returns true
+bool
+strlist_contains(const char *list, char sep, const char *s);
+
 // return the index to truncate a UTF-8 string at a valid position
 size_t
 utf8_truncation_index(const char *utf8, size_t max_len);
diff --git a/app/tests/test_strutil.c b/app/tests/test_strutil.c
index ce0d5d30..dfd99658 100644
--- a/app/tests/test_strutil.c
+++ b/app/tests/test_strutil.c
@@ -287,6 +287,18 @@ static void test_parse_integer_with_suffix(void) {
     assert(!ok);
 }
 
+static void test_strlist_contains(void) {
+    assert(strlist_contains("a,bc,def", ',', "bc"));
+    assert(!strlist_contains("a,bc,def", ',', "b"));
+    assert(strlist_contains("", ',', ""));
+    assert(strlist_contains("abc,", ',', ""));
+    assert(strlist_contains(",abc", ',', ""));
+    assert(strlist_contains("abc,,def", ',', ""));
+    assert(!strlist_contains("abc", ',', ""));
+    assert(strlist_contains(",,|x", '|', ",,"));
+    assert(strlist_contains("xyz", '\0', "xyz"));
+}
+
 int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
     (void) argc;
     (void) argv;
@@ -304,5 +316,6 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
     test_parse_integer();
     test_parse_integers();
     test_parse_integer_with_suffix();
+    test_strlist_contains();
     return 0;
 }