diff --git a/src/string.cpp b/src/string.cpp
index c3d6f5bc07..9d75e5c651 100644
--- a/src/string.cpp
+++ b/src/string.cpp
@@ -215,6 +215,21 @@ void str_strip_colours(char *str)
 	*dst = '\0';
 }
 
+/**
+ * Get the length of an UTF-8 encoded string in number of characters
+ * and thus not the number of bytes that the encoded string contains.
+ * @param s The string to get the length for.
+ * @return The length of the string in characters.
+ */
+size_t Utf8StringLength(const char *s)
+{
+	size_t len = 0;
+	const char *t = s;
+	while (Utf8Consume(&t) != 0) len++;
+	return len;
+}
+
+
 /**
  * Convert a given ASCII string to lowercase.
  * NOTE: only support ASCII characters, no UTF8 fancy. As currently
diff --git a/src/string_func.h b/src/string_func.h
index fd79d6bea7..fe3d169719 100644
--- a/src/string_func.h
+++ b/src/string_func.h
@@ -233,6 +233,8 @@ static inline char *Utf8PrevChar(char *s)
 	return ret;
 }
 
+size_t Utf8StringLength(const char *s);
+
 /**
  * Is the given character a text direction character.
  * @param c The character to test.