diff --git a/editorconfig/utils.go b/editorconfig/utils.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1f2e79c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/editorconfig/utils.go
@@ -0,0 +1,30 @@
+package editorconfig
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
+	"regexp"
+)
+
+var filePathSeparatorRegex = regexp.QuoteMeta(string(filepath.Separator))
+
+var endOfPathRegex, _ = regexp.Compile(`[` + filePathSeparatorRegex + `][^` + filePathSeparatorRegex + `]+$`)
+
+func GetParentDir(path string) string {
+	return endOfPathRegex.ReplaceAllString(path, "")
+}
+
+func ContainsString(haystack []string, needle string) bool {
+	for _, s := range haystack {
+		if s == needle {
+			return true
+		}
+	}
+	return false
+}
+
+func ExitBecauseOfInternalError(err string) {
+	fmt.Println(err)
+	os.Exit(2)
+}
diff --git a/editorconfig/utils_test.go b/editorconfig/utils_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9fe0ccd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/editorconfig/utils_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+package editorconfig
+
+import (
+	"testing"
+)
+
+func TestGetParentDir(t *testing.T) {
+	if GetParentDir("a/b/c.txt") != "a/b" {
+		t.Error()
+	}
+	if GetParentDir("/") != "/" {
+		t.Error()
+	}
+	if GetParentDir("/a/b") != "/a" {
+		t.Error()
+	}
+}