diff --git a/libbb/print_flags.c b/libbb/print_flags.c
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..413f51653
--- /dev/null
+++ b/libbb/print_flags.c
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+/* vi: set sw=4 ts=4: */
+/* Print string that matches bit masked flags
+ *
+ * Copyright (C) 2008 Natanael Copa <natanael.copa@gmail.com>
+ *
+ * Licensed under GPLv2 or later, see file LICENSE in this tarball for details.
+ */
+
+#include <libbb.h>
+
+/* returns a set with the flags not printed */
+int print_flags_separated(const int *masks, const char *labels, int flags, const char *separator)
+{
+	const char *need_separator = NULL;
+	while (*labels) {
+		if (flags & *masks) {
+			printf("%s%s",
+				need_separator ? need_separator : "",
+				labels);
+			need_separator = separator;
+			flags &= ~ *masks;
+			masks++;
+		}
+		labels += strlen(labels) + 1;
+	}
+	return flags;
+}
+
+int print_flags(const masks_labels_t *ml, int flags)
+{
+	return print_flags_separated(ml->masks, ml->labels, flags, NULL);
+}