diff --git a/src/libvirt_private.syms b/src/libvirt_private.syms
index da44c2f31e..ae22a51723 100644
--- a/src/libvirt_private.syms
+++ b/src/libvirt_private.syms
@@ -1874,6 +1874,7 @@ virLogDefineOutput;
 virLogFilterFree;
 virLogFilterListFree;
 virLogFilterNew;
+virLogFindOutput;
 virLogGetDefaultPriority;
 virLogGetFilters;
 virLogGetNbFilters;
diff --git a/src/util/virlog.c b/src/util/virlog.c
index 2957b8c1b6..df8b5bc22a 100644
--- a/src/util/virlog.c
+++ b/src/util/virlog.c
@@ -1649,3 +1649,35 @@ virLogFilterNew(const char *match,
 
     return ret;
 }
+
+
+/**
+ * virLogFindOutput:
+ * @outputs: a list of outputs where to look for the output of type @dest
+ * @noutputs: number of elements in @outputs
+ * @dest: destination type of an output
+ * @opaque: opaque data to the method (only filename at the moment)
+ *
+ * Looks for an output of destination type @dest in the source list @outputs.
+ * If such an output exists, index of the object in the list is returned.
+ * In case of the destination being of type FILE also a comparison of the
+ * output's filename with @opaque is performed first.
+ *
+ * Returns the index of the object in the list or -1 if no object matching the
+ * specified @dest type and/or @opaque data one was found.
+ */
+int
+virLogFindOutput(virLogOutputPtr *outputs, size_t noutputs,
+                 virLogDestination dest, const void *opaque)
+{
+    size_t i;
+    const char *name = opaque;
+
+    for (i = 0; i < noutputs; i++) {
+        if (dest == outputs[i]->dest &&
+            (STREQ_NULLABLE(outputs[i]->name, name)))
+                return i;
+    }
+
+    return -1;
+}
diff --git a/src/util/virlog.h b/src/util/virlog.h
index a33553328a..4e557f8d38 100644
--- a/src/util/virlog.h
+++ b/src/util/virlog.h
@@ -235,5 +235,7 @@ virLogOutputPtr virLogOutputNew(virLogOutputFunc f,
 virLogFilterPtr virLogFilterNew(const char *match,
                                 virLogPriority priority,
                                 unsigned int flags) ATTRIBUTE_NONNULL(1);
+int virLogFindOutput(virLogOutputPtr *outputs, size_t noutputs,
+                     virLogDestination dest, const void *opaque);
 
 #endif