diff --git a/lib/utils/mu-utils-file.cc b/lib/utils/mu-utils-file.cc
index 3f5039a4..a22e5040 100644
--- a/lib/utils/mu-utils-file.cc
+++ b/lib/utils/mu-utils-file.cc
@@ -28,6 +28,10 @@
 #include <gio/gio.h>
 #include <gio/gunixinputstream.h>
 
+#ifdef HAVE_WORDEXP_H
+#include <wordexp.h>
+#endif /*HAVE_WORDEXP_H*/
+
 using namespace Mu;
 
 
@@ -309,6 +313,30 @@ Mu::run_command(std::initializer_list<std::string> args)
 }
 
 
+Result<std::string>
+Mu::expand_path(const std::string& str)
+{
+#ifndef HAVE_WORDEXP_H
+	return Ok(std::string{str});
+#else
+	int res;
+	wordexp_t result;
+	memset(&result, 0, sizeof(result));
+
+	res = wordexp(str.c_str(), &result, 0);
+	if (res != 0 || result.we_wordc == 0)
+		return Err(Error::Code::File, "cannot expand '%s'; err=%d", str.c_str(), res);
+
+	std::string expanded{result.we_wordv[0]};
+	wordfree(&result);
+
+	return Ok(std::move(expanded));
+
+#endif /*HAVE_WORDEXP_H*/
+}
+
+
+
 #ifdef BUILD_TESTS
 
 /*
diff --git a/lib/utils/mu-utils-file.hh b/lib/utils/mu-utils-file.hh
index c9d89146..9f429bd7 100644
--- a/lib/utils/mu-utils-file.hh
+++ b/lib/utils/mu-utils-file.hh
@@ -75,6 +75,16 @@ bool check_dir(const std::string& path, bool readable, bool writeable);
  */
 std::string canonicalize_filename(const std::string& path, const std::string& relative_to);
 
+/**
+ * Expand the filesystem path (as per wordexp(3))
+ *
+ * @param str a filesystem path string
+ *
+ * @return the expanded string or some error
+ */
+Result<std::string> expand_path(const std::string& str);
+
+
 /*
  * for OSs with out support for direntry->d_type, like Solaris
  */