diff --git a/src/hts_strtab.h b/src/hts_strtab.h
index 38d47bcc..8024f991 100644
--- a/src/hts_strtab.h
+++ b/src/hts_strtab.h
@@ -19,6 +19,8 @@
 #ifndef STRTAB_H_
 #define STRTAB_H_
 
+#include "htsmsg.h"
+
 #include <strings.h>
 
 struct strtab {
@@ -77,4 +79,20 @@ val2str0(int val, const struct strtab tab[], int l)
 
 #define val2str(val, tab) val2str0(val, tab, sizeof(tab) / sizeof(tab[0]))
 
+static inline htsmsg_t *
+strtab2htsmsg0(const struct strtab tab[], int n)
+{
+  int i;
+  htsmsg_t *e, *l = htsmsg_create_list();
+  for (i = 0; i < n; i++) {
+    e = htsmsg_create_map();
+    htsmsg_add_s32(e, "key", tab[i].val);
+    htsmsg_add_str(e, "val", tab[i].str);
+    htsmsg_add_msg(l, NULL, e);
+  }
+  return l;
+}
+
+#define strtab2htsmsg(tab) strtab2htsmsg0(tab, sizeof(tab) / sizeof(tab[0]))
+
 #endif /* STRTAB_H_ */