diff --git a/tools/perf/util/util.c b/tools/perf/util/util.c
index ccfdeb6..ab71d62 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/util.c
+++ b/tools/perf/util/util.c
@@ -361,3 +361,28 @@
 	*ptime = time_sec * NSEC_PER_SEC + time_nsec;
 	return 0;
 }
+
+unsigned long parse_tag_value(const char *str, struct parse_tag *tags)
+{
+	struct parse_tag *i = tags;
+
+	while (i->tag) {
+		char *s;
+
+		s = strchr(str, i->tag);
+		if (s) {
+			unsigned long int value;
+			char *endptr;
+
+			value = strtoul(str, &endptr, 10);
+			if (s != endptr)
+				break;
+
+			value *= i->mult;
+			return value;
+		}
+		i++;
+	}
+
+	return (unsigned long) -1;
+}