diff --git a/src/ls.c b/src/ls.c
index 27962ad91..164b543c4 100644
--- a/src/ls.c
+++ b/src/ls.c
@@ -42,6 +42,10 @@ void printRemoteUrlHandlers(struct client *client)
 	}
 }
 
+bool uri_has_scheme(const char *uri)
+{
+	return strstr(uri, "://") != NULL;
+}
 
 bool isRemoteUrl(const char *url)
 {
diff --git a/src/ls.h b/src/ls.h
index 5ea65faf7..799d5dd4f 100644
--- a/src/ls.h
+++ b/src/ls.h
@@ -28,6 +28,12 @@ struct client;
 
 const char *getSuffix(const char *utf8file);
 
+/**
+ * Checks whether the specified URI has a schema in the form
+ * "scheme://".
+ */
+bool uri_has_scheme(const char *uri);
+
 bool isRemoteUrl(const char *url);
 
 const struct decoder_plugin *