diff --git a/Source/cmCPluginAPI.cxx b/Source/cmCPluginAPI.cxx
index e7ffe3f391..bdf0b944b8 100644
--- a/Source/cmCPluginAPI.cxx
+++ b/Source/cmCPluginAPI.cxx
@@ -453,6 +453,14 @@ char *cmGetFilenameWithoutExtension(const char *name)
   return result;
 }
 
+char *cmGetFilenamePath(const char *name)
+{
+  std::string sres = cmSystemTools::GetFilenamePath(name);
+  char *result = (char *)malloc(sres.size()+1);  
+  strcpy(result,sres.c_str());
+  return result;
+}
+
 char *cmCapitalized(const char *name)
 {
   std::string sres = cmSystemTools::Capitalized(name);
@@ -522,6 +530,7 @@ cmCAPI cmStaticCAPI =
   cmCapitalized,
   cmCopyFileIfDifferent,
   cmGetFilenameWithoutExtension,
+  cmGetFilenamePath,
   cmRemoveFile,
 };
 
diff --git a/Source/cmCPluginAPI.h b/Source/cmCPluginAPI.h
index 1f679d76b3..eaa98d9fc7 100644
--- a/Source/cmCPluginAPI.h
+++ b/Source/cmCPluginAPI.h
@@ -137,6 +137,7 @@ typedef struct
   char  *(*Capitalized)(const char *);
   void   (*CopyFileIfDifferent)(const char *f1, const char *f2);
   char  *(*GetFilenameWithoutExtension)(const char *);
+  char  *(*GetFilenamePath)(const char *);
   void   (*RemoveFile)(const char *f1);
   
   /* this is the end of the C function stub API structure */