diff --git a/strbuf.c b/strbuf.c
index ac62982e6..12c78656c 100644
--- a/strbuf.c
+++ b/strbuf.c
@@ -600,3 +600,22 @@ char *xstrdup_tolower(const char *string)
 	result[i] = '\0';
 	return result;
 }
+
+char *xstrvfmt(const char *fmt, va_list ap)
+{
+	struct strbuf buf = STRBUF_INIT;
+	strbuf_vaddf(&buf, fmt, ap);
+	return strbuf_detach(&buf, NULL);
+}
+
+char *xstrfmt(const char *fmt, ...)
+{
+	va_list ap;
+	char *ret;
+
+	va_start(ap, fmt);
+	ret = xstrvfmt(fmt, ap);
+	va_end(ap);
+
+	return ret;
+}
diff --git a/strbuf.h b/strbuf.h
index e9ad03eab..a594c24b2 100644
--- a/strbuf.h
+++ b/strbuf.h
@@ -187,4 +187,13 @@ extern int fprintf_ln(FILE *fp, const char *fmt, ...);
 
 char *xstrdup_tolower(const char *);
 
+/*
+ * Create a newly allocated string using printf format. You can do this easily
+ * with a strbuf, but this provides a shortcut to save a few lines.
+ */
+__attribute__((format (printf, 1, 0)))
+char *xstrvfmt(const char *fmt, va_list ap);
+__attribute__((format (printf, 1, 2)))
+char *xstrfmt(const char *fmt, ...);
+
 #endif /* STRBUF_H */