diff --git a/include/common/standard.h b/include/common/standard.h
index eff47e749..2366f9e43 100644
--- a/include/common/standard.h
+++ b/include/common/standard.h
@@ -384,4 +384,10 @@ int word_match(const char *sample, int slen, const char *word, int wlen);
  */
 int buf2ip(const char *buf, size_t len, struct in_addr *dst);
 
+/* To be used to quote config arg positions. Returns the string at <ptr>
+ * surrounded by simple quotes if <ptr> is valid and non-empty, or "end of line"
+ * if ptr is NULL or empty. The string is locally allocated.
+ */
+const char *quote_arg(const char *ptr);
+
 #endif /* _COMMON_STANDARD_H */
diff --git a/src/standard.c b/src/standard.c
index 3f3e6bd0e..12954b0c7 100644
--- a/src/standard.c
+++ b/src/standard.c
@@ -1059,6 +1059,25 @@ int buf2ip(const char *buf, size_t len, struct in_addr *dst)
 	return addr - cp;
 }
 
+/* To be used to quote config arg positions. Returns the short string at <ptr>
+ * surrounded by simple quotes if <ptr> is valid and non-empty, or "end of line"
+ * if ptr is NULL or empty. The string is locally allocated.
+ */
+const char *quote_arg(const char *ptr)
+{
+	static char val[32];
+	int i;
+
+	if (!ptr || !*ptr)
+		return "end of line";
+	val[0] = '\'';
+	for (i = 1; i < sizeof(val) - 1 && *ptr; i++)
+		val[i] = *ptr++;
+	val[i++] = '\'';
+	val[i] = '\0';
+	return val;
+}
+
 /*
  * Local variables:
  *  c-indent-level: 8