diff --git a/lib/private/group/metadata.php b/lib/private/group/metadata.php
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..65444cc04e8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/private/group/metadata.php
@@ -0,0 +1,189 @@
+<?php
+
+/**
+ * Copyright (c) 2014 Arthur Schiwon <blizzz@owncloud.com>
+ * This file is licensed under the Affero General Public License version 3 or
+ * later.
+ * See the COPYING-README file.
+ */
+
+namespace OC\Group;
+
+class MetaData {
+	const SORT_NONE = 0;
+	const SORT_USERCOUNT = 1;
+
+	/**
+	 * @var string $user
+	 */
+	protected $user;
+
+	/**
+	 * @var bool $isAdmin
+	 */
+	protected $isAdmin;
+
+	/**
+	 * @var string[] $groups
+	 */
+	protected $groups = array();
+
+	/**
+	 * @var \OC\Group\Manager $groupManager
+	 */
+	protected $groupManager;
+
+	/**
+	 * @var int $sorting
+	 */
+	protected $sorting = false;
+
+	/**
+	 * @var string $lastSearch
+	 */
+	protected $lastSearch;
+
+	/**
+	 * @param string the uid of the current user
+	 * @param bool whether the current users is an admin
+	 * @param \OC\Group\Manager
+	 */
+	public function __construct(
+			$user,
+			$isAdmin,
+			\OC\Group\Manager $groupManager
+			) {
+		$this->user = $user;
+		$this->isAdmin = (bool)$isAdmin;
+		$this->groupManager = $groupManager;
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * returns an array with meta data about all available groups
+	 * the array is structured as follows:
+	 * [0] array containing meta data about admin groups
+	 * [1] array containing meta data about unprivileged groups
+	 * @param string only effective when instance was created with isAdmin being
+	 * true
+	 * @return array
+	 */
+	public function get($search = '') {
+		if($this->lastSearch !== $search) {
+			$this->lastSearch = $search;
+			$this->groups = array();
+		}
+
+		$adminGroups = array();
+		$groups = array();
+		$sortGroupsIndex = 0;
+		$sortGroupsKeys = array();
+		$sortAdminGroupsIndex = 0;
+		$sortAdminGroupsKeys = array();
+
+		foreach($this->getGroups($search) as $group) {
+			$usersInGroup = $group->count();
+			$groupMetaData = $this->generateGroupMetaData($group);
+			if (strtolower($gid) !== 'admin') {
+				$this->addEntry(
+					$groups,
+					$sortGroupsKeys,
+					$sortGroupsIndex,
+					$groupMetaData);
+			} else {
+				//admin group is hard coded to 'admin' for now. In future,
+				//backends may define admin groups too. Then the if statement
+				//has to be adjusted accordingly.
+				$this->addEntry(
+					$adminGroups,
+					$sortAdminGroupsKeys,
+					$sortAdminGroupsIndex,
+					$groupMetaData);
+			}
+		}
+
+		//whether sorting is necessary is will be checked in sort()
+		$this->sort($groups, $sortGroupsKeys);
+		$this->sort($adminGroups, $sortAdminGroupsKeys);
+
+		return array($adminGroups, $groups);
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * @brief sets the sort mode, currently 0 (none) and 1 (user entries,
+	 * descalating) are supported
+	 * @param int the sortMode (SORT_NONE, SORT_USERCOUNT)
+	 */
+	public function setSorting($sortMode) {
+		if($sortMode >= 0 && $sortMode <= 1) {
+			$this->sorting = $sortMode;
+		} else {
+			$this->sorting = 0;
+		}
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * @brief adds an group entry to the resulting array
+	 * @param array the resulting array, by reference
+	 * @param array the sort key array, by reference
+	 * @param array the sort key index, by reference
+	 * @param array the group's meta data as returned by generateGroupMetaData()
+	 * @return null
+	 */
+	private function addEntry(&$entries, &$sortKeys, &$sortIndex, $data) {
+		$entries[] = $data;
+		if($this->sorting === 1) {
+			$sortKeys[$sortIndex] = $data['usercount'];
+			$sortIndex++;
+		}
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * @brief creates an array containing the group meta data
+	 * @param \OC\Group\Group
+	 * @return array with the keys 'id', 'name' and 'usercount'
+	 */
+	private function generateGroupMetaData(\OC\Group\Group $group) {
+		return array(
+				'id' => str_replace(' ','', $group->getGID()),
+				'name' => $group->getGID(),
+				'usercount' => $group->count()
+			);
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * @brief sorts the result array, if applicable
+	 * @param array the result array, by reference
+	 * @param array the array containing the sort keys
+	 * @param return null
+	 */
+	private function sort(&$entries, $sortKeys) {
+		if($this->sorting > 0) {
+			array_multisort($sortKeys, SORT_DESC, $entries);
+		}
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * @brief returns the available groups
+	 * @param string a search string
+	 * @return string[]
+	 */
+	private function getGroups($search = '') {
+		if(count($this->groups) === 0) {
+			$this->fetchGroups($search);
+		}
+		return $this->groups;
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * @brief fetches the group using the group manager or the subAdmin API
+	 * @param string a search string
+	 * @return null
+	 */
+	private function fetchGroups($search = '') {
+		if($this->isAdmin) {
+			$this->groups = $this->groupManager->search($search);
+		} else {
+			$this->groups = \OC_SubAdmin::getSubAdminsGroups($this->user);
+		}
+	}
+}
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