diff --git a/libs/pbd/file_utils.cc b/libs/pbd/file_utils.cc
index 544daa2e15..bdc03dc143 100644
--- a/libs/pbd/file_utils.cc
+++ b/libs/pbd/file_utils.cc
@@ -64,6 +64,46 @@ using namespace std;
 
 namespace PBD {
 
+void
+get_directory_contents (const std::string& directory_path,
+                       vector<string>& result,
+                       bool files_only,
+                       bool recurse)
+{
+	// perhaps we don't need this check assuming an exception is thrown
+	// as it would save checking that the path is a directory twice when
+	// recursing
+	if (!Glib::file_test (directory_path, Glib::FILE_TEST_IS_DIR)) return;
+
+	try
+	{
+		Glib::Dir dir(directory_path);
+		Glib::DirIterator i = dir.begin();
+
+		while (i != dir.end()) {
+
+			string fullpath = Glib::build_filename (directory_path, *i);
+
+			bool is_dir = Glib::file_test (fullpath, Glib::FILE_TEST_IS_DIR);
+
+			if (is_dir && recurse) {
+				get_directory_contents (fullpath, result, files_only, recurse);
+			}
+
+			i++;
+
+			if (is_dir && files_only) {
+				continue;
+			}
+			result.push_back (fullpath);
+		}
+	}
+	catch (Glib::FileError& err)
+	{
+		warning << err.what() << endmsg;
+	}
+}
+
 void
 get_files_in_directory (const std::string& directory_path, vector<string>& result)
 {
diff --git a/libs/pbd/pbd/file_utils.h b/libs/pbd/pbd/file_utils.h
index 8a3b014ba5..151d177275 100644
--- a/libs/pbd/pbd/file_utils.h
+++ b/libs/pbd/pbd/file_utils.h
@@ -30,6 +30,22 @@
 
 namespace PBD {
 
+/**
+ * Get a contents of directory.
+ * @note paths in result will be absolute
+ *
+ * @param path An absolute path to a directory in the filename encoding
+ * @param result A vector of absolute paths to the directory entries in filename
+ * encoding.
+ * @param files_only Only include file entries in result
+ * @param recurse Recurse into child directories
+ */
+LIBPBD_API void
+get_directory_contents (const std::string& path,
+                        std::vector<std::string>& result,
+			bool files_only = true,
+			bool recurse = false);
+
 /**
  * Get a list of files in a directory.
  * @note You must join path with result to get the absolute path