diff --git a/src/helper/Makefile.am b/src/helper/Makefile.am
index c4c60d96b..e9c05cfc5 100644
--- a/src/helper/Makefile.am
+++ b/src/helper/Makefile.am
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ noinst_LTLIBRARIES += %D%/libhelper.la
 	%D%/util.c \
 	%D%/jep106.c \
 	%D%/jim-nvp.c \
+	%D%/nvp.c \
 	%D%/align.h \
 	%D%/binarybuffer.h \
 	%D%/bits.h \
@@ -32,7 +33,8 @@ noinst_LTLIBRARIES += %D%/libhelper.la
 	%D%/system.h \
 	%D%/jep106.h \
 	%D%/jep106.inc \
-	%D%/jim-nvp.h
+	%D%/jim-nvp.h \
+	%D%/nvp.h
 
 STARTUP_TCL_SRCS += %D%/startup.tcl
 EXTRA_DIST += \
diff --git a/src/helper/nvp.c b/src/helper/nvp.c
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..7a8abc2e2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/helper/nvp.c
@@ -0,0 +1,67 @@
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: BSD-2-Clause-Views
+
+/*
+ * Copyright 2005 Salvatore Sanfilippo <antirez@invece.org>
+ * Copyright 2005 Clemens Hintze <c.hintze@gmx.net>
+ * Copyright 2005 patthoyts - Pat Thoyts <patthoyts@users.sf.net>
+ * Copyright 2008 oharboe - Øyvind Harboe - oyvind.harboe@zylin.com
+ * Copyright 2008 Andrew Lunn <andrew@lunn.ch>
+ * Copyright 2008 Duane Ellis <openocd@duaneellis.com>
+ * Copyright 2008 Uwe Klein <uklein@klein-messgeraete.de>
+ * Copyright 2008 Steve Bennett <steveb@workware.net.au>
+ * Copyright 2009 Nico Coesel <ncoesel@dealogic.nl>
+ * Copyright 2009 Zachary T Welch zw@superlucidity.net
+ * Copyright 2009 David Brownell
+ * Copyright (c) 2005-2011 Jim Tcl Project. All rights reserved.
+ *
+ * This file is extracted from jim_nvp.c, originally part of jim TCL code.
+ */
+
+#ifdef HAVE_CONFIG_H
+#include "config.h"
+#endif
+
+#include <string.h>
+
+#include <helper/command.h>
+#include <helper/nvp.h>
+
+const struct nvp *nvp_name2value(const struct nvp *p, const char *name)
+{
+	while (p->name) {
+		if (strcmp(name, p->name) == 0)
+			break;
+		p++;
+	}
+	return p;
+}
+
+const struct nvp *nvp_value2name(const struct nvp *p, int value)
+{
+	while (p->name) {
+		if (value == p->value)
+			break;
+		p++;
+	}
+	return p;
+}
+
+void nvp_unknown_command_print(struct command_invocation *cmd, const struct nvp *nvp,
+	const char *param_name, const char *param_value)
+{
+	if (param_name)
+		command_print_sameline(cmd, "%s: Unknown: %s, try one of: ", param_name, param_value);
+	else
+		command_print_sameline(cmd, "Unknown param: %s, try one of: ", param_value);
+
+	while (nvp->name) {
+		if ((nvp + 1)->name)
+			command_print_sameline(cmd, "%s, ", nvp->name);
+		else
+			command_print(cmd, "or %s", nvp->name);
+
+		nvp++;
+	}
+
+	/* We assume nvp to be not empty and loop has been taken; no need to add a '\n' */
+}
diff --git a/src/helper/nvp.h b/src/helper/nvp.h
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..125164e4e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/helper/nvp.h
@@ -0,0 +1,75 @@
+/* SPDX-License-Identifier: BSD-2-Clause-Views */
+
+/*
+ * Copyright 2005 Salvatore Sanfilippo <antirez@invece.org>
+ * Copyright 2005 Clemens Hintze <c.hintze@gmx.net>
+ * Copyright 2005 patthoyts - Pat Thoyts <patthoyts@users.sf.net>
+ * Copyright 2008 oharboe - Øyvind Harboe - oyvind.harboe@zylin.com
+ * Copyright 2008 Andrew Lunn <andrew@lunn.ch>
+ * Copyright 2008 Duane Ellis <openocd@duaneellis.com>
+ * Copyright 2008 Uwe Klein <uklein@klein-messgeraete.de>
+ * Copyright 2008 Steve Bennett <steveb@workware.net.au>
+ * Copyright 2009 Nico Coesel <ncoesel@dealogic.nl>
+ * Copyright 2009 Zachary T Welch zw@superlucidity.net
+ * Copyright 2009 David Brownell
+ * Copyright (c) 2005-2011 Jim Tcl Project. All rights reserved.
+ *
+ * This file is extracted from jim_nvp.h, originally part of jim TCL code.
+ */
+
+#ifndef OPENOCD_HELPER_NVP_H
+#define OPENOCD_HELPER_NVP_H
+
+/** Name Value Pairs, aka: NVP
+ *   -  Given a string - return the associated int.
+ *   -  Given a number - return the associated string.
+ *   .
+ *
+ * Very useful when the number is not a simple index into an array of
+ * known string, or there may be multiple strings (aliases) that mean then same
+ * thing.
+ *
+ * An NVP Table is terminated with ".name = NULL".
+ *
+ * During the 'name2value' operation, if no matching string is found
+ * the pointer to the terminal element (with p->name == NULL) is returned.
+ *
+ * Example:
+ * \code
+ *      const struct nvp yn[] = {
+ *          { "yes", 1 },
+ *          { "no" , 0 },
+ *          { "yep", 1 },
+ *          { "nope", 0 },
+ *          { NULL, -1 },
+ *      };
+ *
+ *  struct nvp *result;
+ *  result = nvp_name2value(yn, "yes");
+ *         returns &yn[0];
+ *  result = nvp_name2value(yn, "no");
+ *         returns &yn[1];
+ *  result = jim_nvp_name2value(yn, "Blah");
+ *         returns &yn[4];
+ * \endcode
+ *
+ * During the number2name operation, the first matching value is returned.
+ */
+
+struct nvp {
+	const char *name;
+	int value;
+};
+
+struct command_invocation;
+
+/* Name Value Pairs Operations */
+const struct nvp *nvp_name2value(const struct nvp *nvp_table, const char *name)
+	__attribute__((returns_nonnull, nonnull(1)));
+const struct nvp *nvp_value2name(const struct nvp *nvp_table, int v)
+	__attribute__((returns_nonnull, nonnull(1)));
+
+void nvp_unknown_command_print(struct command_invocation *cmd, const struct nvp *nvp,
+	const char *param_name, const char *param_value);
+
+#endif /* OPENOCD_HELPER_NVP_H */