diff --git a/include/str.h b/include/str.h
index 46ec218..831d5c7 100644
--- a/include/str.h
+++ b/include/str.h
@@ -7,6 +7,8 @@
 #ifndef STR_H
 #define STR_H
 
+char * slug_to_pcre(char * slug, char sep);
+
 char * ltrim_slash(char* str);
 
 char** str_split(char* a_str, const char a_delim);
@@ -15,5 +17,6 @@ void str_repeat(char *s, char *c, int len);
 
 void print_indent(int level);
 
+
 #endif /* !STR_H */
 
diff --git a/src/node.c b/src/node.c
index d26b0ea..73b8212 100644
--- a/src/node.c
+++ b/src/node.c
@@ -103,6 +103,13 @@ redge * rnode_find_edge(rnode * n, char * pat) {
     return NULL;
 }
 
+void rnode_combine_patterns(rnode * n) {
+    redge *e = NULL;
+    for ( int i = 0 ; i < n->children_len ; i++ ) {
+        e = n->children[i];
+    }
+}
+
 
 rnode * rnode_lookup(rnode * tree, char * path, int path_len) {
     token_array * tokens = split_route_pattern(path, path_len);
diff --git a/src/str.c b/src/str.c
index 1585151..b707440 100644
--- a/src/str.c
+++ b/src/str.c
@@ -11,6 +11,30 @@
 #include "str.h"
 #include "token.h"
 
+/**
+ * @param char * sep separator
+ */
+char * slug_to_pcre(char * slug, char sep)
+{
+    char * p = NULL;
+    char * pat = NULL;
+    char * end = NULL;
+
+    if ( NULL != (p = strchr(slug, ':')) ) {
+        // this slug contains a pattern
+        end = strchr(p, '}');
+
+        // start after ':'
+        return strndup( (p + 1) , (end - p - 1) );
+    } else {
+        if ((pat = malloc(128)) == NULL) {
+            return (NULL);
+        }
+        // should return a '[^/]+' pattern
+        snprintf(pat, 128, "[^%c]+", sep);
+    }
+    return pat;
+}
 
 
 char * ltrim_slash(char* str)
diff --git a/tests/test_tree.c b/tests/test_tree.c
index fbb2e28..fa7a421 100644
--- a/tests/test_tree.c
+++ b/tests/test_tree.c
@@ -40,6 +40,23 @@ START_TEST (test_rnode_find_edge)
 END_TEST
 
 
+START_TEST (test_slug_to_pcre)
+{
+    char * pattern;
+    pattern = slug_to_pcre("{id}", '/');
+    fail_if( strcmp(pattern, "[^/]+") != 0 , "as [^/]+" );
+    free(pattern);
+
+    pattern = slug_to_pcre("{id:[a-z]+}", '/');
+    fail_if( strcmp(pattern, "[a-z]+") != 0 , "as [a-z]+" );
+    free(pattern);
+
+
+
+}
+END_TEST
+
+
 START_TEST (test_rnode_insert_tokens)
 {
     token_array *t;
@@ -152,6 +169,7 @@ Suite* r3_suite (void) {
         tcase_add_test(tcase, test_rnode_construct_uniq);
         tcase_add_test(tcase, test_rnode_find_edge);
         tcase_add_test(tcase, test_rnode_insert_tokens);
+        tcase_add_test(tcase, test_slug_to_pcre);
 
         suite_add_tcase(suite, tcase);