diff --git a/src/picongpu/include/plugins/common/stringHelpers.hpp b/src/picongpu/include/plugins/common/stringHelpers.hpp
index aac309821c..e35b1acffd 100644
--- a/src/picongpu/include/plugins/common/stringHelpers.hpp
+++ b/src/picongpu/include/plugins/common/stringHelpers.hpp
@@ -23,31 +23,59 @@
 #include <string>
 #include <sstream>
 #include <ctime>
-
+#include <vector>
+#include <list>
+#include <algorithm>
+#include <iostream>
 
 namespace picongpu
+{
+namespace helper
 {
     /** Return the current date as string
      *
      * \param format, \see http://www.cplusplus.com/reference/ctime/strftime/
      * \return std::string with formatted date
      */
-    std::string getDateString( std::string format )
-    {
-        time_t rawtime;
-        struct tm* timeinfo;
-        const size_t maxLen = 30;
-        char buffer [maxLen];
+    std::string getDateString( std::string format );
 
-        time( &rawtime );
-        timeinfo = localtime( &rawtime );
+    /** Create array of c-strings suitable for libSplash
+     *
+     * Convert a std::list of strings to a format that is suitable to
+     * be written into libSplash (concated and padded array of constant
+     * c-strings). Strings will be padded to longest string.
+     *
+     * Independent of the padding you chose, the strings will be '\0'
+     * separated & terminated. \0 padding is default and recommended.
+     */
+    class GetSplashArrayOfString
+    {
+    private:
+        // compare two std::string by their size
+        struct CompStrBySize
+        {
+            bool operator()( std::string i, std::string j )
+            {
+                return i.size() < j.size();
+            }
+        };
 
-        strftime( buffer, maxLen, format.c_str(), timeinfo );
+    public:
+        // resulting type containing all attributes for a libSplash write call
+        struct Result
+        {
+            size_t maxLen;                // size of the longest string
+            std::vector<char> buffers;    // all of same length lenMax
 
-        std::stringstream dateString;
-        dateString << buffer;
+            Result() : maxLen(0)
+            {}
+        };
 
-        return dateString.str();
-    }
+        Result operator()(
+            std::list<std::string> listOfStrings,
+            char padding = '\0'
+        );
+    };
 
+} // namespace helper
 } // namespace picongpu
diff --git a/src/picongpu/stringHelpers.cpp b/src/picongpu/stringHelpers.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..73ae552558
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/picongpu/stringHelpers.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,101 @@
+/**
+ * Copyright 2015-2016 Axel Huebl
+ *
+ * This file is part of PIConGPU.
+ *
+ * PIConGPU is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+ * it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+ * the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+ * (at your option) any later version.
+ *
+ * PIConGPU is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+ * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+ * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+ * GNU General Public License for more details.
+ *
+ * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+ * along with PIConGPU.
+ * If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+ */
+
+#include "include/plugins/common/stringHelpers.hpp"
+
+namespace picongpu
+{
+namespace helper
+{
+    /** Return the current date as string
+     *
+     * \param format, \see http://www.cplusplus.com/reference/ctime/strftime/
+     * \return std::string with formatted date
+     */
+    std::string getDateString( std::string format )
+    {
+        time_t rawtime;
+        struct tm* timeinfo;
+        const size_t maxLen = 30;
+        char buffer [maxLen];
+
+        time( &rawtime );
+        timeinfo = localtime( &rawtime );
+
+        strftime( buffer, maxLen, format.c_str(), timeinfo );
+
+        std::stringstream dateString;
+        dateString << buffer;
+
+        return dateString.str();
+    }
+
+    GetSplashArrayOfString::Result
+    GetSplashArrayOfString::operator()(
+        std::list<std::string> listOfStrings,
+        char padding
+    )
+    {
+            Result result;
+
+            // find length of longest string in list
+            CompStrBySize compStrBySize;
+            std::string longestString = *std::max_element(
+                    listOfStrings.begin(),
+                    listOfStrings.end(),
+                    compStrBySize
+            );
+            result.maxLen = longestString.size();
+
+            // allocate & prepare buffer with padding
+            //   size per buffer must include terminator \0 !
+            const size_t bytesPerEntry = result.maxLen + 1;
+            const size_t lenAllBuffers = listOfStrings.size() * bytesPerEntry;
+            result.buffers.assign( lenAllBuffers, padding );
+
+            // copy buffers
+            std::list<std::string>::iterator listIt = listOfStrings.begin();
+            for(
+                size_t i = 0;
+                i < listOfStrings.size();
+                ++i, ++listIt
+            )
+            {
+                // index points to each part of the buffer individually
+                const size_t startIdx = i * bytesPerEntry;
+                std::vector<char>::iterator startIt =
+                    result.buffers.begin() + startIdx;
+
+                // copy byte wise onto padding
+                std::copy(
+                    listIt->begin(),
+                    listIt->end(),
+                    startIt
+                );
+                if( padding != '\0' )
+                    result.buffers.at( startIdx + result.maxLen ) = '\0';
+            }
+
+            // return
+            return result;
+    }
+
+} // namespace helper
+} // namespace picongpu