diff --git a/include/pcp/buffer.h b/include/pcp/buffer.h
index 58b1a9a..52d6a8e 100644
--- a/include/pcp/buffer.h
+++ b/include/pcp/buffer.h
@@ -88,6 +88,9 @@ unsigned char *buffer_get(Buffer *b);
    points to b->buf and should not be free'd directly*/
 char *buffer_get_str(Buffer *b);
 
+/* fetch whatever is left in the buffer */
+unsigned char *buffer_get_remainder(Buffer *b);
+
 /* same as buffer_get() but fetch some data chunk from somewhere
    in the middle of the buffer */
 size_t buffer_extract(Buffer *b, void *buf, size_t offset, size_t len);
diff --git a/libpcp/buffer.c b/libpcp/buffer.c
index 3f2c01f..e8cba06 100644
--- a/libpcp/buffer.c
+++ b/libpcp/buffer.c
@@ -98,6 +98,16 @@ size_t buffer_get_chunk(Buffer *b, void *buf, size_t len) {
   return len;
 }
 
+unsigned char *buffer_get_remainder(Buffer *b) {
+  void *buf;
+  if(buffer_get_chunk(b, buf, b->end - b->offset) == 0) {
+    return NULL;
+  }
+  else {
+    return buf;
+  }
+}
+
 uint8_t buffer_get8(Buffer *b) {
   uint8_t i;
   if(buffer_get_chunk(b, &i, 1) > 0) {