diff --git a/src/kits/interface/textview_support/LineBuffer.cpp b/src/kits/interface/textview_support/LineBuffer.cpp
index 36b0871941..87f8fd5b73 100644
--- a/src/kits/interface/textview_support/LineBuffer.cpp
+++ b/src/kits/interface/textview_support/LineBuffer.cpp
@@ -105,3 +105,20 @@ BTextView::LineBuffer::BumpOffset(int32 delta, int32 index)
 	for (long i = index; i < fItemCount; i++)
 		fBuffer[i].offset += delta;
 }
+
+
+float
+BTextView::LineBuffer::MaxWidth() const
+{
+	if (fItemCount == 0)
+		return 0;
+
+	float maxWidth = 0;
+	STELine* line = &fBuffer[0];
+	for (int32 i = 0; i < fItemCount; i++) {
+		if (maxWidth < line->width)
+			maxWidth = line->width;
+		line++;
+	}
+	return maxWidth;
+}
diff --git a/src/kits/interface/textview_support/LineBuffer.h b/src/kits/interface/textview_support/LineBuffer.h
index 3bd4b9bc32..87ffe6d2a7 100644
--- a/src/kits/interface/textview_support/LineBuffer.h
+++ b/src/kits/interface/textview_support/LineBuffer.h
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ struct STELine {
 	long		offset;		// offset of first character of line
 	float		origin;		// pixel position of top of line
 	float		ascent;		// maximum ascent for line
-	float		width;		// not used for now, but could be
+	float		width;		// cached width of line in pixels
 };
 
 
@@ -31,11 +31,12 @@ virtual					~LineBuffer();
 
 		int32			OffsetToLine(int32 offset) const;
 		int32			PixelToLine(float pixel) const;
-			
+
 		void			BumpOrigin(float delta, int32 index);
 		void			BumpOffset(int32 delta, int32 index);
 
 		long			NumLines() const;
+		float			MaxWidth() const;
 		STELine *		operator[](int32 index) const;
 };