diff --git a/src/option_parser.c b/src/option_parser.c
index 2a11d6c..4f16d59 100644
--- a/src/option_parser.c
+++ b/src/option_parser.c
@@ -260,6 +260,15 @@ gint64 ini_get_time(const char *section, const char *key, gint64 def)
         return val;
 }
 
+char **ini_get_list(const char *section, const char *key, const char *def)
+{
+        const char *value = get_value(section, key);
+        if (value)
+                return string_to_array(value);
+        else
+                return string_to_array(def);
+}
+
 int ini_get_int(const char *section, const char *key, int def)
 {
         const char *value = get_value(section, key);
@@ -475,6 +484,16 @@ char *cmdline_get_path(const char *key, const char *def, const char *description
                 return string_to_path(g_strdup(def));
 }
 
+char **cmdline_get_list(const char *key, const char *def, const char *description){
+        cmdline_usage_append(key, "list", description);
+        const char *str = cmdline_get_value(key);
+
+        if (str)
+                return string_to_array(str);
+        else
+                return string_to_array(def);
+}
+
 gint64 cmdline_get_time(const char *key, gint64 def, const char *description)
 {
         cmdline_usage_append(key, "time", description);
@@ -574,6 +593,23 @@ gint64 option_get_time(const char *ini_section,
         return cmdline_get_time(cmdline_key, ini_val, description);
 }
 
+
+char **option_get_list(const char *ini_section,
+                       const char *ini_key,
+                       const char *cmdline_key,
+                       const char *def,
+                       const char *description)
+{
+        char **val = NULL;
+        if (cmdline_key)
+                val = cmdline_get_list(cmdline_key, NULL, description);
+
+        if (val)
+                return val;
+        else
+                return ini_get_list(ini_section, ini_key, def);
+}
+
 int option_get_int(const char *ini_section,
                    const char *ini_key,
                    const char *cmdline_key,
diff --git a/src/option_parser.h b/src/option_parser.h
index f3861bc..88a7659 100644
--- a/src/option_parser.h
+++ b/src/option_parser.h
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ int load_ini_file(FILE *);
 char *ini_get_path(const char *section, const char *key, const char *def);
 char *ini_get_string(const char *section, const char *key, const char *def);
 gint64 ini_get_time(const char *section, const char *key, gint64 def);
+char **ini_get_list(const char *section, const char *key, const char *def);
 int ini_get_int(const char *section, const char *key, int def);
 double ini_get_double(const char *section, const char *key, double def);
 int ini_get_bool(const char *section, const char *key, int def);
@@ -34,6 +35,7 @@ void cmdline_load(int argc, char *argv[]);
 /* for all cmdline_get_* key can be either "-key" or "-key/-longkey" */
 char *cmdline_get_string(const char *key, const char *def, const char *description);
 char *cmdline_get_path(const char *key, const char *def, const char *description);
+char **cmdline_get_list(const char *key, const char *def, const char *description);
 int cmdline_get_int(const char *key, int def, const char *description);
 double cmdline_get_double(const char *key, double def, const char *description);
 int cmdline_get_bool(const char *key, int def, const char *description);
@@ -55,6 +57,11 @@ gint64 option_get_time(const char *ini_section,
                        const char *cmdline_key,
                        gint64 def,
                        const char *description);
+char **option_get_list(const char *ini_section,
+                       const char *ini_key,
+                       const char *cmdline_key,
+                       const char *def,
+                       const char *description);
 int option_get_int(const char *ini_section,
                    const char *ini_key,
                    const char *cmdline_key,
diff --git a/src/utils.c b/src/utils.c
index 6a1d2fb..d837774 100644
--- a/src/utils.c
+++ b/src/utils.c
@@ -13,6 +13,17 @@
 
 #include "log.h"
 
+/* see utils.h */
+void free_string_array(char **arr)
+{
+        if (arr){
+                for (int i = 0; arr[i]; i++){
+                        g_free(arr[i]);
+                }
+        }
+        g_free(arr);
+}
+
 /* see utils.h */
 char *string_replace_char(char needle, char replacement, char *haystack)
 {
@@ -135,6 +146,27 @@ void string_strip_delimited(char *str, char a, char b)
         str[iwrite] = 0;
 }
 
+/* see utils.h */
+char **string_to_array(const char *string)
+{
+        char **arr = NULL;
+        if (string) {
+                char* dup = g_strdup(string);
+                char* tmp = dup;
+                int num_tokens = 0;
+                char *token = strsep(&tmp, ",");
+                while (token) {
+                        arr = g_realloc_n(arr, num_tokens + 2, sizeof(char*));
+                        arr[num_tokens] = g_strdup(g_strstrip(token));
+                        num_tokens++;
+                        token = strsep(&tmp, ",");
+                }
+                arr[num_tokens] = NULL;
+                g_free(dup);
+        }
+        return arr;
+}
+
 /* see utils.h */
 char *string_to_path(char *string)
 {
diff --git a/src/utils.h b/src/utils.h
index 2278f6d..eea44c0 100644
--- a/src/utils.h
+++ b/src/utils.h
@@ -22,6 +22,15 @@
 //! Convert a second into the internal time representation
 #define S2US(s) (((gint64)(s)) * 1000 * 1000)
 
+/**
+ * Frees an array of strings whose last element is a NULL pointer.
+ *
+ * Assumes the last element is a NULL pointer, otherwise will result in a buffer overflow.
+
+ * @param arr The array of strings to free
+ */
+void free_string_array(char **arr);
+
 /**
  * Replaces all occurrences of the char \p needle with the char \p replacement in \p haystack.
  *
@@ -82,6 +91,17 @@ char *string_strip_quotes(const char *value);
  */
 void string_strip_delimited(char *str, char a, char b);
 
+/**
+ * Parse a comma-delimited string into a dynamic array of tokens
+ *
+ * The string is split on commas and strips spaces from tokens. The last element
+ * of the array is NULL in order to avoid passing around a length variable.
+ *
+ * @param string The string to convert to an array
+ * @returns The array of tokens.
+ */
+char **string_to_array(const char *string);
+
 /**
  * Replace tilde and path-specific values with its equivalents
  *