diff --git a/scikits/learn/datasets/misc/__init__.py b/scikits/learn/datasets/misc/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..3457bb15a4dbe6b85b3e0e8fcb8e4ac29afe240f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scikits/learn/datasets/misc/__init__.py
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+from tools import dumpvar
diff --git a/scikits/learn/datasets/misc/tools.py b/scikits/learn/datasets/misc/tools.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..8d2c9c1846879a44996c418b5f7fbf4659d6ea44
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scikits/learn/datasets/misc/tools.py
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+#! /usr/bin/env python
+
+"""Some basic tools for common operations in datasets."""
+
+import textwrap
+
+def dumpvar(var, varname, wrap = 79):
+    """return a list of string representing the variable var with name varname.
+
+    For example, if var is [1, 2, 3, 4] and varname is l, this will return the
+    list ["l = [1, 2, 3, 4]"]. Each item in the list is a wrapped line, using
+    the value in wrap."""
+    strvar = varname + " = " + str(var)
+    l = [i + '\n' for i in textwrap.wrap(strvar, wrap)]
+    l.append('\n')
+    return l