diff --git a/fpga/include/villas/utils.hpp b/fpga/include/villas/utils.hpp
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b2b5b314c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/fpga/include/villas/utils.hpp
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+#pragma once
+
+#include <string>
+#include <vector>
+#include <list>
+
+namespace villas {
+namespace utils {
+
+std::vector<std::string>
+tokenize(std::string s, std::string delimiter);
+
+} // namespace utils
+} // namespace villas
+
diff --git a/fpga/lib/CMakeLists.txt b/fpga/lib/CMakeLists.txt
index a4962cb49..1d639f14e 100644
--- a/fpga/lib/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/fpga/lib/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ set(SOURCES
 	plugin.c
 	plugin.cpp
 	utils.c
+	utils.cpp
 	list.c
 	log.c
 	log_config.c
diff --git a/fpga/lib/utils.cpp b/fpga/lib/utils.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..f0cd982f1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/fpga/lib/utils.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+#include <vector>
+#include <string>
+
+#include "utils.hpp"
+
+namespace villas {
+namespace utils {
+
+std::vector<std::string>
+tokenize(std::string s, std::string delimiter)
+{
+	std::vector<std::string> tokens;
+
+	size_t lastPos = 0;
+	size_t curentPos;
+
+	while((curentPos = s.find(delimiter, lastPos)) != std::string::npos) {
+		const size_t tokenLength = curentPos - lastPos;
+		tokens.push_back(s.substr(lastPos, tokenLength));
+
+		// advance in string
+		lastPos = curentPos + delimiter.length();
+	}
+
+	// check if there's a last token behind the last delimiter
+	if(lastPos != s.length()) {
+		const size_t lastTokenLength = s.length() - lastPos;
+		tokens.push_back(s.substr(lastPos, lastTokenLength));
+	}
+
+	return tokens;
+}
+
+} // namespace utils
+} // namespace villas