diff --git a/etc/rc.subr b/etc/rc.subr
index 1037bbcb1f84..2928d3bb47db 100644
--- a/etc/rc.subr
+++ b/etc/rc.subr
@@ -1356,6 +1356,45 @@ mount_md()
 	/sbin/mdmfs $flags -s $1 md $2
 }
 
+# Code common to scripts that need to load a kernel module
+# if it isn't in the kernel yet. Syntax:
+#   load_kld [-e regexp] [-m modname] filename
+# where -e or -m chooses the way to check if the module
+# is already loaded:
+#   regexp is egrep'd in the output from `kldstat -v',
+#   modname is passed to `kldstat -m'.
+# The default way is as though `-m filename' were specified.
+load_kld()
+{
+	local _loaded _mod _opt _re
+
+	while getopts "e:m:" _opt; do
+		case "$_opt" in
+		e) _re="$OPTARG" ;;
+		m) _mod="$OPTARG" ;;
+		esac
+	done
+	shift $(($OPTIND - 1))
+	_mod=${_mod:-$1}
+	_loaded=false
+	if [ -n "$_re" ]; then
+		if kldstat -v | egrep -q -e "$_re"; then
+			_loaded=true
+		fi
+	else
+		if kldstat -q -m "$_mod"; then
+			_loaded=true
+		fi
+	fi
+	if ! $_loaded; then
+		if ! kldload "$1"; then
+			warn "Unable to load kernel module $1"
+			return 1
+		fi
+	fi
+	return 0
+}
+
 # ltr str src dst
 #	Change every $src in $str to $dst.
 #	Useful when /usr is not yet mounted and we cannot use tr(1), sed(1) nor
diff --git a/share/man/man8/rc.subr.8 b/share/man/man8/rc.subr.8
index e9a3d0823c1f..434334521c62 100644
--- a/share/man/man8/rc.subr.8
+++ b/share/man/man8/rc.subr.8
@@ -64,6 +64,8 @@
 .It
 .Ic info Ar message
 .It
+.Ic load_kld Oo Fl e Ar regex Oc Oo Fl m Ar module Oc Ar file
+.It
 .Ic load_rc_config Ar name
 .It
 .Ic load_rc_config_var Ar name Ar var
@@ -312,6 +314,20 @@ turned on or off by the
 .Xr rc.conf 5
 variable
 .Va rc_info .
+.It Ic load_kld Oo Fl e Ar regex Oc Oo Fl m Ar module Oc Ar file
+Load
+.Ar file
+as a kernel module unless it is already loaded.
+For the purpose of checking the module status,
+either the exact module name can be specified using
+.Fl m ,
+or an
+.Xr egrep 1
+regular expression matching the module name can be supplied via
+.Fl e .
+By default, the module is assumed to have the same name as
+.Ar file ,
+which is not always the case.
 .It Ic load_rc_config Ar name
 Source in the configuration files for
 .Ar name .