diff --git a/include/qapi/qmp/qstring.h b/include/qapi/qmp/qstring.h
index b72843fc1b..38c680b718 100644
--- a/include/qapi/qmp/qstring.h
+++ b/include/qapi/qmp/qstring.h
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ QString *qstring_from_str(const char *str);
 QString *qstring_from_substr(const char *str, int start, int end);
 size_t qstring_get_length(const QString *qstring);
 const char *qstring_get_str(const QString *qstring);
+const char *qstring_get_try_str(const QString *qstring);
 void qstring_append_int(QString *qstring, int64_t value);
 void qstring_append(QString *qstring, const char *str);
 void qstring_append_chr(QString *qstring, int c);
diff --git a/qobject/qstring.c b/qobject/qstring.c
index 8bae529ef7..5777f0af23 100644
--- a/qobject/qstring.c
+++ b/qobject/qstring.c
@@ -116,6 +116,16 @@ const char *qstring_get_str(const QString *qstring)
     return qstring->string;
 }
 
+/**
+ * qstring_get_try_str(): Return a pointer to the stored string
+ *
+ * NOTE: will return NULL if qstring is not provided.
+ */
+const char *qstring_get_try_str(const QString *qstring)
+{
+    return qstring ? qstring_get_str(qstring) : NULL;
+}
+
 /**
  * qstring_is_equal(): Test whether the two QStrings are equal
  */