diff --git a/include/crm/common/strings_internal.h b/include/crm/common/strings_internal.h
index 84471bf38e..4fdf3a5716 100644
--- a/include/crm/common/strings_internal.h
+++ b/include/crm/common/strings_internal.h
@@ -1,198 +1,213 @@
 /*
  * Copyright 2015-2022 the Pacemaker project contributors
  *
  * The version control history for this file may have further details.
  *
  * This source code is licensed under the GNU Lesser General Public License
  * version 2.1 or later (LGPLv2.1+) WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY.
  */
 
 #ifndef PCMK__STRINGS_INTERNAL__H
 #define PCMK__STRINGS_INTERNAL__H
 
 #include <stdbool.h>            // bool
 
 #include <glib.h>               // guint, GList, GHashTable
 
 /* internal constants for generic string functions (from strings.c) */
 
 #define PCMK__PARSE_INT_DEFAULT -1
 #define PCMK__PARSE_DBL_DEFAULT -1.0
 
 /* internal generic string functions (from strings.c) */
 
 enum pcmk__str_flags {
     pcmk__str_none          = 0,
     pcmk__str_casei         = 1 << 0,
     pcmk__str_null_matches  = 1 << 1,
     pcmk__str_regex         = 1 << 2,
     pcmk__str_star_matches  = 1 << 3,
 };
 
 int pcmk__scan_double(const char *text, double *result,
                       const char *default_text, char **end_text);
 int pcmk__guint_from_hash(GHashTable *table, const char *key, guint default_val,
                           guint *result);
 bool pcmk__starts_with(const char *str, const char *prefix);
 bool pcmk__ends_with(const char *s, const char *match);
 bool pcmk__ends_with_ext(const char *s, const char *match);
 char *pcmk__trim(char *str);
 void pcmk__add_separated_word(char **list, size_t *len, const char *word,
                               const char *separator);
 int pcmk__compress(const char *data, unsigned int length, unsigned int max,
                    char **result, unsigned int *result_len);
 
 int pcmk__scan_ll(const char *text, long long *result, long long default_value);
 int pcmk__scan_min_int(const char *text, int *result, int minimum);
 int pcmk__scan_port(const char *text, int *port);
 int pcmk__parse_ll_range(const char *srcstring, long long *start, long long *end);
 
 GHashTable *pcmk__strkey_table(GDestroyNotify key_destroy_func,
                                GDestroyNotify value_destroy_func);
 GHashTable *pcmk__strikey_table(GDestroyNotify key_destroy_func,
                                 GDestroyNotify value_destroy_func);
 GHashTable *pcmk__str_table_dup(GHashTable *old_table);
 
+/*!
+ * \internal
+ * \brief Get a string value with a default if NULL
+ *
+ * \param[in] s              String to return if non-NULL
+ * \param[in] default_value  String (or NULL) to return if \p s is NULL
+ *
+ * \return \p s if \p s is non-NULL, otherwise \p default_value
+ */
+static inline const char *
+pcmk__s(const char *s, const char *default_value)
+{
+    return (s == NULL)? default_value : s;
+}
+
 /*!
  * \internal
  * \brief Create a hash table with integer keys
  *
  * \param[in] value_destroy_func  Function to free a value
  *
  * \return Newly allocated hash table
  * \note It is the caller's responsibility to free the result, using
  *       g_hash_table_destroy().
  */
 static inline GHashTable *
 pcmk__intkey_table(GDestroyNotify value_destroy_func)
 {
     return g_hash_table_new_full(g_direct_hash, g_direct_equal, NULL,
                                  value_destroy_func);
 }
 
 /*!
  * \internal
  * \brief Insert a value into a hash table with integer keys
  *
  * \param[in,out] hash_table  Table to insert into
  * \param[in]     key         Integer key to insert
  * \param[in]     value       Value to insert
  *
  * \return Whether the key/value was already in the table
  * \note This has the same semantics as g_hash_table_insert(). If the key
  *       already exists in the table, the old value is freed and replaced.
  */
 static inline gboolean
 pcmk__intkey_table_insert(GHashTable *hash_table, int key, gpointer value)
 {
     return g_hash_table_insert(hash_table, GINT_TO_POINTER(key), value);
 }
 
 /*!
  * \internal
  * \brief Look up a value in a hash table with integer keys
  *
  * \param[in] hash_table  Table to check
  * \param[in] key         Integer key to look for
  *
  * \return Value in table for \key (or NULL if not found)
  */
 static inline gpointer
 pcmk__intkey_table_lookup(GHashTable *hash_table, int key)
 {
     return g_hash_table_lookup(hash_table, GINT_TO_POINTER(key));
 }
 
 /*!
  * \internal
  * \brief Remove a key/value from a hash table with integer keys
  *
  * \param[in] hash_table  Table to modify
  * \param[in] key         Integer key of entry to remove
  *
  * \return Whether \p key was found and removed from \p hash_table
  */
 static inline gboolean
 pcmk__intkey_table_remove(GHashTable *hash_table, int key)
 {
     return g_hash_table_remove(hash_table, GINT_TO_POINTER(key));
 }
 
 gboolean pcmk__str_in_list(const gchar *s, GList *lst, uint32_t flags);
 
 bool pcmk__strcase_any_of(const char *s, ...) G_GNUC_NULL_TERMINATED;
 bool pcmk__str_any_of(const char *s, ...) G_GNUC_NULL_TERMINATED;
 bool pcmk__char_in_any_str(int ch, ...) G_GNUC_NULL_TERMINATED;
 
 int pcmk__strcmp(const char *s1, const char *s2, uint32_t flags);
 int pcmk__numeric_strcasecmp(const char *s1, const char *s2);
 void pcmk__str_update(char **str, const char *value);
 
 static inline bool
 pcmk__str_eq(const char *s1, const char *s2, uint32_t flags)
 {
     return pcmk__strcmp(s1, s2, flags) == 0;
 }
 
 // Like pcmk__add_separated_word() but using a space as separator
 static inline void
 pcmk__add_word(char **list, size_t *len, const char *word)
 {
     return pcmk__add_separated_word(list, len, word, " ");
 }
 
 /* Correctly displaying singular or plural is complicated; consider "1 node has"
  * vs. "2 nodes have". A flexible solution is to pluralize entire strings, e.g.
  *
  * if (a == 1) {
  *     crm_info("singular message"):
  * } else {
  *     crm_info("plural message");
  * }
  *
  * though even that's not sufficient for all languages besides English (if we
  * ever desire to do translations of output and log messages). But the following
  * convenience macros are "good enough" and more concise for many cases.
  */
 
 /* Example:
  * crm_info("Found %d %s", nentries,
  *          pcmk__plural_alt(nentries, "entry", "entries"));
  */
 #define pcmk__plural_alt(i, s1, s2) (((i) == 1)? (s1) : (s2))
 
 // Example: crm_info("Found %d node%s", nnodes, pcmk__plural_s(nnodes));
 #define pcmk__plural_s(i) pcmk__plural_alt(i, "", "s")
 
 static inline int
 pcmk__str_empty(const char *s)
 {
     return (s == NULL) || (s[0] == '\0');
 }
 
 static inline char *
 pcmk__itoa(int an_int)
 {
     return crm_strdup_printf("%d", an_int);
 }
 
 static inline char *
 pcmk__ftoa(double a_float)
 {
     return crm_strdup_printf("%f", a_float);
 }
 
 static inline char *
 pcmk__ttoa(time_t epoch_time)
 {
     return crm_strdup_printf("%lld", (long long) epoch_time);
 }
 
 // note this returns const not allocated
 static inline const char *
 pcmk__btoa(bool condition)
 {
     return condition? "true" : "false";
 }
 
 #endif /* PCMK__STRINGS_INTERNAL__H */