diff --git a/tools/virsh-util.c b/tools/virsh-util.c
index 79a38bb2343664e428a70c6ca832ddff9fbacc48..4b86e29cbd4f859aabb85c522382a32c188722a7 100644
--- a/tools/virsh-util.c
+++ b/tools/virsh-util.c
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
 
 #include "virfile.h"
 #include "virstring.h"
+#include "viralloc.h"
 
 static virDomainPtr
 virshLookupDomainInternal(vshControl *ctl,
@@ -172,3 +173,50 @@ virshDomainSnapshotFree(virDomainSnapshotPtr snap)
     vshSaveLibvirtHelperError();
     virDomainSnapshotFree(snap); /* sc_prohibit_obj_free_apis_in_virsh */
 }
+
+
+int
+virshDomainGetXMLFromDom(vshControl *ctl,
+                         virDomainPtr dom,
+                         unsigned int flags,
+                         xmlDocPtr *xml,
+                         xmlXPathContextPtr *ctxt)
+{
+    char *desc = NULL;
+
+    if (!(desc = virDomainGetXMLDesc(dom, flags))) {
+        vshError(ctl, _("Failed to get domain description xml"));
+        return -1;
+    }
+
+    *xml = virXMLParseStringCtxt(desc, _("(domain_definition)"), ctxt);
+    VIR_FREE(desc);
+
+    if (!(*xml)) {
+        vshError(ctl, _("Failed to parse domain description xml"));
+        return -1;
+    }
+
+    return 0;
+}
+
+
+int
+virshDomainGetXML(vshControl *ctl,
+                  const vshCmd *cmd,
+                  unsigned int flags,
+                  xmlDocPtr *xml,
+                  xmlXPathContextPtr *ctxt)
+{
+    virDomainPtr dom;
+    int ret;
+
+    if (!(dom = virshCommandOptDomain(ctl, cmd, NULL)))
+        return -1;
+
+    ret = virshDomainGetXMLFromDom(ctl, dom, flags, xml, ctxt);
+
+    virshDomainFree(dom);
+
+    return ret;
+}
diff --git a/tools/virsh-util.h b/tools/virsh-util.h
index 2b5aedfba5955519db082453f8fb9ad6b35ecce8..64cef23c02f66381ef8dd09d06d4321b9ad71167 100644
--- a/tools/virsh-util.h
+++ b/tools/virsh-util.h
@@ -21,6 +21,8 @@
 
 # include "virsh.h"
 
+# include <libxml/parser.h>
+# include <libxml/xpath.h>
 
 virDomainPtr
 virshLookupDomainBy(vshControl *ctl,
@@ -55,4 +57,22 @@ virshStreamSink(virStreamPtr st,
                 size_t nbytes,
                 void *opaque);
 
+int
+virshDomainGetXMLFromDom(vshControl *ctl,
+                         virDomainPtr dom,
+                         unsigned int flags,
+                         xmlDocPtr *xml,
+                         xmlXPathContextPtr *ctxt)
+    ATTRIBUTE_NONNULL(1) ATTRIBUTE_NONNULL(2) ATTRIBUTE_NONNULL(4)
+    ATTRIBUTE_NONNULL(5) ATTRIBUTE_RETURN_CHECK;
+
+int
+virshDomainGetXML(vshControl *ctl,
+                  const vshCmd *cmd,
+                  unsigned int flags,
+                  xmlDocPtr *xml,
+                  xmlXPathContextPtr *ctxt)
+    ATTRIBUTE_NONNULL(1) ATTRIBUTE_NONNULL(2) ATTRIBUTE_NONNULL(4)
+    ATTRIBUTE_NONNULL(5) ATTRIBUTE_RETURN_CHECK;
+
 #endif /* VIRSH_UTIL_H */