return -ESRCH;
 }
 
+static int setup_sort_list(char *str, struct perf_evlist *evlist)
+{
+       char *tmp, *tok;
+       int ret = 0;
+
+       for (tok = strtok_r(str, ", ", &tmp);
+                       tok; tok = strtok_r(NULL, ", ", &tmp)) {
+               ret = sort_dimension__add(tok, evlist);
+               if (ret == -EINVAL) {
+                       error("Invalid --sort key: `%s'", tok);
+                       break;
+               } else if (ret == -ESRCH) {
+                       error("Unknown --sort key: `%s'", tok);
+                       break;
+               }
+       }
+
+       return ret;
+}
+
 static const char *get_default_sort_order(struct perf_evlist *evlist)
 {
        const char *default_sort_orders[] = {
 
 static int __setup_sorting(struct perf_evlist *evlist)
 {
-       char *tmp, *tok, *str;
+       char *str;
        const char *sort_keys;
        int ret = 0;
 
                }
        }
 
-       for (tok = strtok_r(str, ", ", &tmp);
-                       tok; tok = strtok_r(NULL, ", ", &tmp)) {
-               ret = sort_dimension__add(tok, evlist);
-               if (ret == -EINVAL) {
-                       error("Invalid --sort key: `%s'", tok);
-                       break;
-               } else if (ret == -ESRCH) {
-                       error("Unknown --sort key: `%s'", tok);
-                       break;
-               }
-       }
+       ret = setup_sort_list(str, evlist);
 
        free(str);
        return ret;