diff --git a/Documentation/technical/api-string-list.txt b/Documentation/technical/api-string-list.txt
index 293bb15d20..6d8c24bb1e 100644
--- a/Documentation/technical/api-string-list.txt
+++ b/Documentation/technical/api-string-list.txt
@@ -104,8 +104,12 @@ write `string_list_insert(...)->util = ...;`.
 `unsorted_string_list_has_string`::
 
 	It's like `string_list_has_string()` but for unsorted lists.
+
+`unsorted_string_list_lookup`::
+
+	It's like `string_list_lookup()` but for unsorted lists.
 +
-This function needs to look through all items, as opposed to its
+The above two functions need to look through all items, as opposed to their
 counterpart for sorted lists, which performs a binary search.
 
 Data structures
diff --git a/string-list.c b/string-list.c
index 1ac536e638..c9ad7fcd49 100644
--- a/string-list.c
+++ b/string-list.c
@@ -168,12 +168,19 @@ void sort_string_list(struct string_list *list)
 	qsort(list->items, list->nr, sizeof(*list->items), cmp_items);
 }
 
-int unsorted_string_list_has_string(struct string_list *list, const char *string)
+struct string_list_item *unsorted_string_list_lookup(struct string_list *list,
+						     const char *string)
 {
 	int i;
 	for (i = 0; i < list->nr; i++)
 		if (!strcmp(string, list->items[i].string))
-			return 1;
-	return 0;
+			return list->items + i;
+	return NULL;
+}
+
+int unsorted_string_list_has_string(struct string_list *list,
+				    const char *string)
+{
+	return unsorted_string_list_lookup(list, string) != NULL;
 }
 
diff --git a/string-list.h b/string-list.h
index 6569cf607b..63b69c8d75 100644
--- a/string-list.h
+++ b/string-list.h
@@ -38,5 +38,6 @@ struct string_list_item *string_list_lookup(const char *string, struct string_li
 struct string_list_item *string_list_append(const char *string, struct string_list *list);
 void sort_string_list(struct string_list *list);
 int unsorted_string_list_has_string(struct string_list *list, const char *string);
-
+struct string_list_item *unsorted_string_list_lookup(struct string_list *list,
+						     const char *string);
 #endif /* STRING_LIST_H */