diff --git a/cobra.go b/cobra.go
index b655768a..2726d19e 100644
--- a/cobra.go
+++ b/cobra.go
@@ -19,14 +19,21 @@ package cobra
 import (
 	"fmt"
 	"io"
+	"reflect"
+	"strconv"
 	"strings"
 	"text/template"
 	"unicode"
 )
 
 var templateFuncs = template.FuncMap{
-	"trimTrailingWhitespaces": trimTrailingWhitespaces,
-	"rpad": rpad,
+	"trim":                    strings.TrimSpace,
+	"trimRightSpace":          trimRightSpace,
+	"trimTrailingWhitespaces": trimRightSpace,
+	"appendIfNotPresent":      appendIfNotPresent,
+	"rpad":                    rpad,
+	"gt":                      Gt,
+	"eq":                      Eq,
 }
 
 var initializers []func()
@@ -59,10 +66,70 @@ func OnInitialize(y ...func()) {
 	initializers = append(initializers, y...)
 }
 
-func trimTrailingWhitespaces(s string) string {
+// FIXME Gt is unused by cobra and should be removed in a version 2. It exists only for compatibility with users of cobra.
+
+// Gt takes two types and checks whether the first type is greater than the second. In case of types Arrays, Chans,
+// Maps and Slices, Gt will compare their lengths. Ints are compared directly while strings are first parsed as
+// ints and then compared.
+func Gt(a interface{}, b interface{}) bool {
+	var left, right int64
+	av := reflect.ValueOf(a)
+
+	switch av.Kind() {
+	case reflect.Array, reflect.Chan, reflect.Map, reflect.Slice:
+		left = int64(av.Len())
+	case reflect.Int, reflect.Int8, reflect.Int16, reflect.Int32, reflect.Int64:
+		left = av.Int()
+	case reflect.String:
+		left, _ = strconv.ParseInt(av.String(), 10, 64)
+	}
+
+	bv := reflect.ValueOf(b)
+
+	switch bv.Kind() {
+	case reflect.Array, reflect.Chan, reflect.Map, reflect.Slice:
+		right = int64(bv.Len())
+	case reflect.Int, reflect.Int8, reflect.Int16, reflect.Int32, reflect.Int64:
+		right = bv.Int()
+	case reflect.String:
+		right, _ = strconv.ParseInt(bv.String(), 10, 64)
+	}
+
+	return left > right
+}
+
+// FIXME Eq is unused by cobra and should be removed in a version 2. It exists only for compatibility with users of cobra.
+
+// Eq takes two types and checks whether they are equal. Supported types are int and string. Unsupported types will panic.
+func Eq(a interface{}, b interface{}) bool {
+	av := reflect.ValueOf(a)
+	bv := reflect.ValueOf(b)
+
+	switch av.Kind() {
+	case reflect.Array, reflect.Chan, reflect.Map, reflect.Slice:
+		panic("Eq called on unsupported type")
+	case reflect.Int, reflect.Int8, reflect.Int16, reflect.Int32, reflect.Int64:
+		return av.Int() == bv.Int()
+	case reflect.String:
+		return av.String() == bv.String()
+	}
+	return false
+}
+
+func trimRightSpace(s string) string {
 	return strings.TrimRightFunc(s, unicode.IsSpace)
 }
 
+// FIXME appendIfNotPresent is unused by cobra and should be removed in a version 2. It exists only for compatibility with users of cobra.
+
+// appendIfNotPresent will append stringToAppend to the end of s, but only if it's not yet present in s.
+func appendIfNotPresent(s, stringToAppend string) string {
+	if strings.Contains(s, stringToAppend) {
+		return s
+	}
+	return s + " " + stringToAppend
+}
+
 // rpad adds padding to the right of a string.
 func rpad(s string, padding int) string {
 	template := fmt.Sprintf("%%-%ds", padding)
@@ -71,8 +138,10 @@ func rpad(s string, padding int) string {
 
 // tmpl executes the given template text on data, writing the result to w.
 func tmpl(w io.Writer, text string, data interface{}) error {
-	t := template.New("top").Funcs(templateFuncs)
-	return template.Must(t.Parse(text)).Execute(w, data)
+	t := template.New("top")
+	t.Funcs(templateFuncs)
+	template.Must(t.Parse(text))
+	return t.Execute(w, data)
 }
 
 // ld compares two strings and returns the levenshtein distance between them.