return errno == 0 && end_ptr != str;
 }
 
-static int check_parse_id(const char *id, bool same_cpu, struct pmu_event *pe)
+static int check_parse_id(const char *id, struct parse_events_error *error)
 {
-       struct parse_events_error error;
        struct evlist *evlist;
        int ret;
 
                return 0;
 
        evlist = evlist__new();
-       memset(&error, 0, sizeof(error));
-       ret = parse_events(evlist, id, &error);
+       if (!evlist)
+               return -ENOMEM;
+       ret = parse_events(evlist, id, error);
+       evlist__delete(evlist);
+       return ret;
+}
+
+static int check_parse_cpu(const char *id, bool same_cpu, struct pmu_event *pe)
+{
+       struct parse_events_error error = { .idx = 0, };
+
+       int ret = check_parse_id(id, &error);
        if (ret && same_cpu) {
                pr_warning("Parse event failed metric '%s' id '%s' expr '%s'\n",
                        pe->metric_name, id, pe->metric_expr);
                          id, pe->metric_name, pe->metric_expr);
                ret = 0;
        }
-       evlist__delete(evlist);
        free(error.str);
        free(error.help);
        free(error.first_str);
                                expr__add_id(&ctx, strdup(cur->key), k++);
 
                        hashmap__for_each_entry((&ctx.ids), cur, bkt) {
-                               if (check_parse_id(cur->key, map == cpus_map,
+                               if (check_parse_cpu(cur->key, map == cpus_map,
                                                   pe))
                                        ret++;
                        }