+/**
+ * tal_strdup - duplicate a string
+ * @ctx: NULL, or tal allocated object to be parent.
+ * @p: the string to copy (can be take()).
+ */
+char *tal_strdup(const tal_t *ctx, const char *p);
+
+/**
+ * tal_strndup - duplicate a limited amount of a string.
+ * @ctx: NULL, or tal allocated object to be parent.
+ * @p: the string to copy (can be take()).
+ * @n: the maximum length to copy.
+ *
+ * Always gives a nul-terminated string, with strlen() <= @n.
+ */
+char *tal_strndup(const tal_t *ctx, const char *p, size_t n);
+
+/**
+ * tal_fmt - allocate a formatted string
+ * @ctx: NULL, or tal allocated object to be parent.
+ * @fmt: the printf-style format (can be take()).
+ */
+char *tal_fmt(const tal_t *ctx, const char *fmt, ...) PRINTF_FMT(2,3);
+
+/**
+ * tal_vfmt - allocate a formatted string (va_list version)
+ * @ctx: NULL, or tal allocated object to be parent.
+ * @fmt: the printf-style format (can be take()).
+ * @va: the va_list containing the format args.
+ */
+char *tal_vfmt(const tal_t *ctx, const char *fmt, va_list ap)
+ PRINTF_FMT(2,0);
+
+/**
+ * tal_append_fmt - append a formatted string to a talloc string.
+ * @baseptr: a pointer to the tal string to be appended to.
+ * @fmt: the printf-style format (can be take()).
+ *
+ * Returns false on allocation failure.
+ */
+bool tal_append_fmt(char **baseptr, const char *fmt, ...) PRINTF_FMT(2,3);
+
+/**
+ * tal_append_vfmt - append a formatted string to a talloc string (va_list)
+ * @baseptr: a pointer to the tal string to be appended to.
+ * @fmt: the printf-style format (can be take()).
+ * @va: the va_list containing the format args.
+ *
+ * Returns false on allocation failure.
+ */
+bool tal_append_vfmt(char **baseptr, const char *fmt, va_list ap);
+
+/**
+ * tal_strcat - join two strings together
+ * @ctx: NULL, or tal allocated object to be parent.
+ * @s1: the first string (can be take()).
+ * @s2: the second string (can be take()).
+ */
+char *tal_strcat(const tal_t *ctx, const char *s1, const char *s2);
+