diff --git a/src/tokenizer.cpp b/src/tokenizer.cpp
index 00f0b0b761..06c0c45bf7 100644
--- a/src/tokenizer.cpp
+++ b/src/tokenizer.cpp
@@ -99,6 +99,8 @@ void Tokenizer::reset()
 }
 
 /*! Search the text to be processed for a sub-string.
+ *
+ * This method does a generic substring match.
  *
  * \param  str  string to be searched for
  * \return      true if string was found, false if not */
@@ -107,6 +109,20 @@ bool Tokenizer::contains(const std::string &str) const
   return text.find(str) != std::string::npos;
 }
 
+/*! Search the text to be processed for regular expression match.
+ *
+\verbatim embed:rst
+This method matches the current string against a regular expression using
+the :cpp:func:`utils::strmatch() <LAMMPS_NS::utils::strmatch>` function.
+\endverbatim
+ *
+ * \param  str  regular expression to be matched against
+ * \return      true if string was found, false if not */
+bool Tokenizer::matches(const std::string &str) const
+{
+  return utils::strmatch(text, str);
+}
+
 /*! Skip over a given number of tokens
  *
  * \param  n  number of tokens to skip over */
@@ -233,6 +249,8 @@ bool ValueTokenizer::has_next() const
 }
 
 /*! Search the text to be processed for a sub-string.
+ *
+ * This method does a generic substring match.
  *
  * \param  value  string with value to be searched for
  * \return        true if string was found, false if not */
@@ -241,6 +259,20 @@ bool ValueTokenizer::contains(const std::string &value) const
   return tokens.contains(value);
 }
 
+/*! Search the text to be processed for regular expression match.
+ *
+\verbatim embed:rst
+This method matches the current string against a regular expression using
+the :cpp:func:`utils::strmatch() <LAMMPS_NS::utils::strmatch>` function.
+\endverbatim
+ *
+ * \param  str  regular expression to be matched against
+ * \return      true if string was found, false if not */
+bool ValueTokenizer::matches(const std::string &str) const
+{
+  return tokens.matches(str);
+}
+
 /*! Retrieve next token
  *
  * \return   string with next token */
diff --git a/src/tokenizer.h b/src/tokenizer.h
index b5d9abf1f7..42a62fefa0 100644
--- a/src/tokenizer.h
+++ b/src/tokenizer.h
@@ -46,6 +46,7 @@ class Tokenizer {
   void skip(int n = 1);
   bool has_next() const;
   bool contains(const std::string &str) const;
+  bool matches(const std::string &str) const;
   std::string next();
 
   size_t count();
@@ -119,6 +120,7 @@ class ValueTokenizer {
 
   bool has_next() const;
   bool contains(const std::string &value) const;
+  bool matches(const std::string &str) const;
   void skip(int ntokens = 1);
 
   size_t count();
diff --git a/unittest/utils/test_tokenizer.cpp b/unittest/utils/test_tokenizer.cpp
index 49cc771a25..4d38bfd14f 100644
--- a/unittest/utils/test_tokenizer.cpp
+++ b/unittest/utils/test_tokenizer.cpp
@@ -173,6 +173,32 @@ TEST(Tokenizer, default_separators)
     ASSERT_EQ(t.count(), 2);
 }
 
+TEST(Tokenizer, contains)
+{
+    Tokenizer values("test word");
+    ASSERT_TRUE(values.contains("test"));
+    ASSERT_TRUE(values.contains("word"));
+}
+
+TEST(Tokenizer, not_contains)
+{
+    Tokenizer values("test word");
+    ASSERT_FALSE(values.contains("test2"));
+}
+
+TEST(Tokenizer, matches)
+{
+    Tokenizer values("test word");
+    ASSERT_TRUE(values.matches("test"));
+    ASSERT_TRUE(values.matches("word"));
+}
+
+TEST(Tokenizer, not_matches)
+{
+    Tokenizer values("test word");
+    ASSERT_FALSE(values.matches("test2"));
+}
+
 TEST(Tokenizer, as_vector1)
 {
     Tokenizer t(" \r\n test \t word \f");
@@ -346,6 +372,19 @@ TEST(ValueTokenizer, not_contains)
     ASSERT_FALSE(values.contains("test2"));
 }
 
+TEST(ValueTokenizer, matches)
+{
+    ValueTokenizer values("test word");
+    ASSERT_TRUE(values.matches("test"));
+    ASSERT_TRUE(values.matches("word"));
+}
+
+TEST(ValueTokenizer, not_matches)
+{
+    ValueTokenizer values("test word");
+    ASSERT_FALSE(values.matches("test2"));
+}
+
 TEST(ValueTokenizer, missing_int)
 {
     ValueTokenizer values("10");