diff --git a/tools/perf/util/string.c b/tools/perf/util/string.c
index 6afd6106ceb51c8d5d3997acb161a255cacffa84..fc8781de62dbbed618e1f220225dfaeb195ef7f0 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/string.c
+++ b/tools/perf/util/string.c
@@ -357,3 +357,42 @@ void *memdup(const void *src, size_t len)
 
 	return p;
 }
+
+char *asprintf_expr_inout_ints(const char *var, bool in, size_t nints, int *ints)
+{
+	/*
+	 * FIXME: replace this with an expression using log10() when we
+	 * find a suitable implementation, maybe the one in the dvb drivers...
+	 *
+	 * "%s == %d || " = log10(MAXINT) * 2 + 8 chars for the operators
+	 */
+	size_t size = nints * 28 + 1; /* \0 */
+	size_t i, printed = 0;
+	char *expr = malloc(size);
+
+	if (expr) {
+		const char *or_and = "||", *eq_neq = "==";
+		char *e = expr;
+
+		if (!in) {
+			or_and = "&&";
+			eq_neq = "!=";
+		}
+
+		for (i = 0; i < nints; ++i) {
+			if (printed == size)
+				goto out_err_overflow;
+
+			if (i > 0)
+				printed += snprintf(e + printed, size - printed, " %s ", or_and);
+			printed += scnprintf(e + printed, size - printed,
+					     "%s %s %d", var, eq_neq, ints[i]);
+		}
+	}
+
+	return expr;
+
+out_err_overflow:
+	free(expr);
+	return NULL;
+}
diff --git a/tools/perf/util/util.h b/tools/perf/util/util.h
index 8bce58b47a826918db8f395e3e6c2711e9bbba8e..20d625a4cacf665f186d0cd44428cb3c593d62a3 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/util.h
+++ b/tools/perf/util/util.h
@@ -339,4 +339,16 @@ int gzip_decompress_to_file(const char *input, int output_fd);
 int lzma_decompress_to_file(const char *input, int output_fd);
 #endif
 
+char *asprintf_expr_inout_ints(const char *var, bool in, size_t nints, int *ints);
+
+static inline char *asprintf_expr_in_ints(const char *var, size_t nints, int *ints)
+{
+	return asprintf_expr_inout_ints(var, true, nints, ints);
+}
+
+static inline char *asprintf_expr_not_in_ints(const char *var, size_t nints, int *ints)
+{
+	return asprintf_expr_inout_ints(var, false, nints, ints);
+}
+
 #endif /* GIT_COMPAT_UTIL_H */