diff --git a/src/table_file_reader.cpp b/src/table_file_reader.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..ea1401cbc5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/table_file_reader.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+/* -*- c++ -*- ----------------------------------------------------------
+   LAMMPS - Large-scale Atomic/Molecular Massively Parallel Simulator
+   http://lammps.sandia.gov, Sandia National Laboratories
+   Steve Plimpton, sjplimp@sandia.gov
+
+   Copyright (2003) Sandia Corporation.  Under the terms of Contract
+   DE-AC04-94AL85000 with Sandia Corporation, the U.S. Government retains
+   certain rights in this software.  This software is distributed under
+   the GNU General Public License.
+
+   See the README file in the top-level LAMMPS directory.
+------------------------------------------------------------------------- */
+
+/* ----------------------------------------------------------------------
+   Contributing authors: Richard Berger (Temple U)
+------------------------------------------------------------------------- */
+
+#include "lammps.h"
+#include "error.h"
+#include "table_file_reader.h"
+#include "utils.h"
+#include "tokenizer.h"
+#include "fmt/format.h"
+
+#include <cstring>
+
+using namespace LAMMPS_NS;
+
+TableFileReader::TableFileReader(LAMMPS *lmp,
+                                         const std::string &filename) : 
+  PotentialFileReader(lmp, filename, "table")
+{
+}
+
+TableFileReader::~TableFileReader() {
+}
+
+char * TableFileReader::find_section_start(const std::string & keyword) {
+  char * line = nullptr;
+  while (line = reader->next_line()) {
+    ValueTokenizer values(line);
+    std::string word = values.next_string();
+
+    if (word == keyword) {
+      // matching keyword
+      return line;
+    }
+  }
+  return nullptr;
+}
diff --git a/src/table_file_reader.h b/src/table_file_reader.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..df89e13e26
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/table_file_reader.h
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+/* -*- c++ -*- ----------------------------------------------------------
+   LAMMPS - Large-scale Atomic/Molecular Massively Parallel Simulator
+   http://lammps.sandia.gov, Sandia National Laboratories
+   Steve Plimpton, sjplimp@sandia.gov
+
+   Copyright (2003) Sandia Corporation.  Under the terms of Contract
+   DE-AC04-94AL85000 with Sandia Corporation, the U.S. Government retains
+   certain rights in this software.  This software is distributed under
+   the GNU General Public License.
+
+   See the README file in the top-level LAMMPS directory.
+------------------------------------------------------------------------- */
+
+/* ----------------------------------------------------------------------
+   Contributing authors: Richard Berger (Temple U)
+------------------------------------------------------------------------- */
+
+#ifndef LMP_TABLE_FILE_READER_H
+#define LMP_TABLE_FILE_READER_H
+
+#include "potential_file_reader.h"
+
+namespace LAMMPS_NS
+{
+  class TableFileReader : public PotentialFileReader {
+  public:
+    TableFileReader(class LAMMPS *lmp, const std::string &filename);
+    virtual ~TableFileReader();
+
+    char * find_section_start(const std::string & keyword);
+  };
+
+} // namespace LAMMPS_NS
+
+#endif