diff --git a/gtk2_ardour/plugin_manager_ui.cc b/gtk2_ardour/plugin_manager_ui.cc
index fbc6fc84e3..3d7db836c6 100644
--- a/gtk2_ardour/plugin_manager_ui.cc
+++ b/gtk2_ardour/plugin_manager_ui.cc
@@ -407,6 +407,8 @@ plugin_type (const PluginType t)
 bool
 PluginManagerUI::show_this_plugin (boost::shared_ptr<PluginScanLogEntry> psle, PluginInfoPtr pip, const std::string& searchstr)
 {
+	using PBD::match_search_strings;
+
 	if (searchstr.empty ()) {
 		return true;
 	}
diff --git a/gtk2_ardour/plugin_utils.h b/gtk2_ardour/plugin_utils.h
index cc026122a6..d93c87b08b 100644
--- a/gtk2_ardour/plugin_utils.h
+++ b/gtk2_ardour/plugin_utils.h
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@
 #include <list>
 #include <string>
 
-#include <boost/tokenizer.hpp>
+#include "pbd/match.h"
 
 #include "ardour/plugin.h"
 #include "ardour/plugin_manager.h"
@@ -37,21 +37,6 @@ setup_search_string (std::string& searchstr)
 	transform (searchstr.begin (), searchstr.end (), searchstr.begin (), ::toupper);
 }
 
-inline static bool
-match_search_strings (std::string const& haystack, std::string const& needle)
-{
-	boost::char_separator<char> sep (" ");
-	typedef boost::tokenizer<boost::char_separator<char> > tokenizer;
-	tokenizer t (needle, sep);
-
-	for (tokenizer::iterator ti = t.begin (); ti != t.end (); ++ti) {
-		if (haystack.find (*ti) == std::string::npos) {
-			return false;
-		}
-	}
-	return true;
-}
-
 struct PluginUIOrderSorter {
 public:
 	bool operator() (ARDOUR::PluginInfoPtr a, ARDOUR::PluginInfoPtr b) const
diff --git a/libs/pbd/pbd/match.h b/libs/pbd/pbd/match.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..33d0c5d283
--- /dev/null
+++ b/libs/pbd/pbd/match.h
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2020 Robin Gareus <robin@gareus.org>
+ *
+ * This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+ * it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+ * the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
+ * (at your option) any later version.
+ *
+ * This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+ * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+ * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+ * GNU General Public License for more details.
+ *
+ * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along
+ * with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
+ * 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA.
+ */
+
+#ifndef __libpbd_match_h__
+#define __libpbd_match_h__
+
+#include <string>
+#include <boost/tokenizer.hpp>
+
+namespace PBD {
+
+inline static bool
+match_search_strings (std::string const& haystack, std::string const& needle)
+{
+	boost::char_separator<char> sep (" ");
+	typedef boost::tokenizer<boost::char_separator<char> > tokenizer;
+	tokenizer t (needle, sep);
+
+	for (tokenizer::iterator ti = t.begin (); ti != t.end (); ++ti) {
+		if (haystack.find (*ti) == std::string::npos) {
+			return false;
+		}
+	}
+	return true;
+}
+
+}
+
+#endif /* __libpbd_match_h__ */