diff --git a/reference-ril/misc.c b/reference-ril/misc.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7945e75
--- /dev/null
+++ b/reference-ril/misc.c
@@ -0,0 +1,29 @@
+/* //device/system/reference-ril/misc.c
+**
+** Copyright 2006, The Android Open Source Project
+**
+** Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); 
+** you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. 
+** You may obtain a copy of the License at 
+**
+**     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0 
+**
+** Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software 
+** distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, 
+** WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. 
+** See the License for the specific language governing permissions and 
+** limitations under the License.
+*/
+
+/** returns 1 if line starts with prefix, 0 if it does not */
+int strStartsWith(const char *line, const char *prefix)
+{
+    for ( ; *line != '\0' && *prefix != '\0' ; line++, prefix++) {
+        if (*line != *prefix) {
+            return 0;
+        }
+    }
+
+    return *prefix == '\0';
+}
+