1 files changed, 11 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/cmd2/utils.py b/cmd2/utils.py
index d4a3db2f..909332ae 100644
--- a/cmd2/utils.py
+++ b/cmd2/utils.py
@@ -8,6 +8,8 @@ import re
 import unicodedata
 from typing import Any, Iterable, List, Optional, Union
 
+from wcwidth import wcswidth
+
 from . import constants
 
 
@@ -20,6 +22,15 @@ def strip_ansi(text: str) -> str:
     return constants.ANSI_ESCAPE_RE.sub('', text)
 
 
+def display_width(text: str) -> int:
+    """
+    Return the printable length of a string. This can be different than character count in unicode strings.
+    :param text: the string being measured
+    """
+    # Strip ANSI escape codes since they cause wcswidth to return -1
+    return wcswidth(strip_ansi(text))
+
+
 def is_quoted(arg: str) -> bool:
     """
     Checks if a string is quoted