diff --git a/src/frontend/variable.c b/src/frontend/variable.c
index 7735b5027..8c1c1a602 100644
--- a/src/frontend/variable.c
+++ b/src/frontend/variable.c
@@ -973,6 +973,16 @@ cp_vprint(void)
     tfree(vars);
 }
 
+struct variable *
+var_alloc(char *name, struct variable *next)
+{
+  struct variable *v = TMALLOC(struct variable, 1);
+  ZERO(v, struct variable);
+  v -> va_name = name;
+  v -> va_next = next;
+  return v;
+}
+
 void
 var_set_bool(struct variable *v, bool value)
 {
diff --git a/src/frontend/variable.h b/src/frontend/variable.h
index 00877b7e8..f7c15dcce 100644
--- a/src/frontend/variable.h
+++ b/src/frontend/variable.h
@@ -43,6 +43,8 @@ wordlist *cp_varwl(struct variable *var);
 wordlist *cp_variablesubst(wordlist *wlist);
 void free_struct_variable(struct variable *v);
 
+struct variable *var_alloc(char *name, struct variable *next);
+
 void var_set_bool(struct variable *, bool);
 void var_set_num(struct variable *, int);
 void var_set_real(struct variable *, double);