diff --git a/tools/perf/util/evlist.c b/tools/perf/util/evlist.c
index 9d863db3f4b239a84cd4eb9a9c90a4ba01dd62c2..5dcd28c79c6e9728edfc7189d294dc7de7e4a7ae 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/evlist.c
+++ b/tools/perf/util/evlist.c
@@ -355,6 +355,53 @@ int perf_evlist__enable_event(struct perf_evlist *evlist,
 	return 0;
 }
 
+static int perf_evlist__enable_event_cpu(struct perf_evlist *evlist,
+					 struct perf_evsel *evsel, int cpu)
+{
+	int thread, err;
+	int nr_threads = perf_evlist__nr_threads(evlist, evsel);
+
+	if (!evsel->fd)
+		return -EINVAL;
+
+	for (thread = 0; thread < nr_threads; thread++) {
+		err = ioctl(FD(evsel, cpu, thread),
+			    PERF_EVENT_IOC_ENABLE, 0);
+		if (err)
+			return err;
+	}
+	return 0;
+}
+
+static int perf_evlist__enable_event_thread(struct perf_evlist *evlist,
+					    struct perf_evsel *evsel,
+					    int thread)
+{
+	int cpu, err;
+	int nr_cpus = cpu_map__nr(evlist->cpus);
+
+	if (!evsel->fd)
+		return -EINVAL;
+
+	for (cpu = 0; cpu < nr_cpus; cpu++) {
+		err = ioctl(FD(evsel, cpu, thread), PERF_EVENT_IOC_ENABLE, 0);
+		if (err)
+			return err;
+	}
+	return 0;
+}
+
+int perf_evlist__enable_event_idx(struct perf_evlist *evlist,
+				  struct perf_evsel *evsel, int idx)
+{
+	bool per_cpu_mmaps = !cpu_map__empty(evlist->cpus);
+
+	if (per_cpu_mmaps)
+		return perf_evlist__enable_event_cpu(evlist, evsel, idx);
+	else
+		return perf_evlist__enable_event_thread(evlist, evsel, idx);
+}
+
 static int perf_evlist__alloc_pollfd(struct perf_evlist *evlist)
 {
 	int nr_cpus = cpu_map__nr(evlist->cpus);
diff --git a/tools/perf/util/evlist.h b/tools/perf/util/evlist.h
index e0084f90c27130b66119f33eb67ff06bc7e3a756..106de53a6a74bc1304e1dc2a638b1f4379723292 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/evlist.h
+++ b/tools/perf/util/evlist.h
@@ -122,6 +122,8 @@ int perf_evlist__disable_event(struct perf_evlist *evlist,
 			       struct perf_evsel *evsel);
 int perf_evlist__enable_event(struct perf_evlist *evlist,
 			      struct perf_evsel *evsel);
+int perf_evlist__enable_event_idx(struct perf_evlist *evlist,
+				  struct perf_evsel *evsel, int idx);
 
 void perf_evlist__set_selected(struct perf_evlist *evlist,
 			       struct perf_evsel *evsel);