diff --git a/src/tokenizer.cpp b/src/tokenizer.cpp
index 7d048d9e02..42ae45453d 100644
--- a/src/tokenizer.cpp
+++ b/src/tokenizer.cpp
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
 
 #include "tokenizer.h"
 #include "utils.h"
+#include <algorithm>
 
 using namespace LAMMPS_NS;
 
@@ -84,6 +85,10 @@ bool ValueTokenizer::has_next() const {
     return current != tokens.cend();
 }
 
+bool ValueTokenizer::contains(const std::string & value) const {
+    return std::find(tokens.cbegin(), tokens.cend(), value) != tokens.cend();
+}
+
 std::string ValueTokenizer::next_string() {
     if (has_next()) {
         std::string value = *current;
diff --git a/src/tokenizer.h b/src/tokenizer.h
index 89cb57b301..60dcf9bfd5 100644
--- a/src/tokenizer.h
+++ b/src/tokenizer.h
@@ -91,6 +91,7 @@ public:
     double next_double();
 
     bool has_next() const;
+    bool contains(const std::string & value) const;
     void skip(int ntokens);
 
     size_t count() const;
diff --git a/unittest/utils/test_tokenizer.cpp b/unittest/utils/test_tokenizer.cpp
index 08c71338be..02d2df9b38 100644
--- a/unittest/utils/test_tokenizer.cpp
+++ b/unittest/utils/test_tokenizer.cpp
@@ -112,3 +112,14 @@ TEST(ValueTokenizer, valid_double_with_exponential) {
     ValueTokenizer values("3.14e22");
     ASSERT_DOUBLE_EQ(values.next_double(), 3.14e22);
 }
+
+TEST(ValueTokenizer, contains) {
+    ValueTokenizer values("test word");
+    ASSERT_TRUE(values.contains("test"));
+    ASSERT_TRUE(values.contains("word"));
+}
+
+TEST(ValueTokenizer, not_contains) {
+    ValueTokenizer values("test word");
+    ASSERT_FALSE(values.contains("test2"));
+}