diff --git a/tools/perf/util/event.c b/tools/perf/util/event.c
index bb788c109fe6..c77814bf01e1 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/event.c
+++ b/tools/perf/util/event.c
@@ -732,8 +732,7 @@ int perf_event__preprocess_sample(const union perf_event *event,
 	if (thread == NULL)
 		return -1;
 
-	if (symbol_conf.comm_list &&
-	    !strlist__has_entry(symbol_conf.comm_list, thread__comm_str(thread)))
+	if (thread__is_filtered(thread))
 		goto out_filtered;
 
 	dump_printf(" ... thread: %s:%d\n", thread__comm_str(thread), thread->tid);
diff --git a/tools/perf/util/thread.h b/tools/perf/util/thread.h
index 897c1b2a750a..5b856bf942e1 100644
--- a/tools/perf/util/thread.h
+++ b/tools/perf/util/thread.h
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 #include <unistd.h>
 #include <sys/types.h>
 #include "symbol.h"
+#include <strlist.h>
 
 struct thread {
 	union {
@@ -66,4 +67,15 @@ static inline void thread__set_priv(struct thread *thread, void *p)
 {
 	thread->priv = p;
 }
+
+static inline bool thread__is_filtered(struct thread *thread)
+{
+	if (symbol_conf.comm_list &&
+	    !strlist__has_entry(symbol_conf.comm_list, thread__comm_str(thread))) {
+		return true;
+	}
+
+	return false;
+}
+
 #endif	/* __PERF_THREAD_H */