diff --git a/Doc/library/locale.rst b/Doc/library/locale.rst
--- a/Doc/library/locale.rst
+++ b/Doc/library/locale.rst
@@ -396,6 +396,17 @@ The :mod:`locale` module defines the fol
    Converts a string to an integer, following the :const:`LC_NUMERIC` conventions.
 
 
+.. function:: width(str)
+
+   Return the number of columns needed to represent the character string. Raise
+   a :exc:`locale.Error` if a nonprintable character occurs among these
+   characters.
+
+   Availability: Unix.
+
+   .. versionadded:: 3.3
+
+
 .. data:: LC_CTYPE
 
    .. index:: module: string
diff --git a/Modules/_localemodule.c b/Modules/_localemodule.c
--- a/Modules/_localemodule.c
+++ b/Modules/_localemodule.c
@@ -483,6 +483,36 @@ PyLocale_nl_langinfo(PyObject* self, PyO
 }
 #endif /* HAVE_LANGINFO_H */
 
+
+#ifdef HAVE_WCSWIDTH
+PyDoc_STRVAR(width__doc__,
+"width(str) -> int\n"
+"determine columns needed for a fixed-size character string.");
+
+static PyObject*
+PyLocale_width(PyObject* self, PyObject* args)
+{
+    PyObject *str;
+    wchar_t *wstr;
+    int width;
+    Py_ssize_t len;
+
+    if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args, "U:width", &str))
+        return NULL;
+    wstr = PyUnicode_AsWideCharString(str, &len);
+    if (wstr == NULL)
+        return NULL;
+    width = wcswidth(wstr, len);
+    PyMem_Free(wstr);
+    if (width < 0) {
+        PyErr_SetString(Error, "the string is not printable");
+        return NULL;
+    }
+    return PyLong_FromLong(width);
+}
+#endif /* HAVE_WCSWIDTH */
+
+
 #ifdef HAVE_LIBINTL_H
 
 PyDoc_STRVAR(gettext__doc__,
@@ -617,6 +647,10 @@ static struct PyMethodDef PyLocale_Metho
   {"nl_langinfo", (PyCFunction) PyLocale_nl_langinfo,
    METH_VARARGS, nl_langinfo__doc__},
 #endif
+#ifdef HAVE_WCSWIDTH
+  {"width",(PyCFunction)PyLocale_width, METH_VARARGS,
+   width__doc__},
+#endif
 #ifdef HAVE_LIBINTL_H
   {"gettext",(PyCFunction)PyIntl_gettext,METH_VARARGS,
     gettext__doc__},
diff --git a/configure b/configure
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -9405,7 +9405,7 @@ for ac_func in alarm accept4 setitimer g
  sigtimedwait sigwait sigwaitinfo snprintf strftime strlcpy symlinkat sync \
  sysconf tcgetpgrp tcsetpgrp tempnam timegm times tmpfile tmpnam tmpnam_r \
  truncate uname unlinkat unsetenv utimensat utimes waitid waitpid wait3 wait4 \
- wcscoll wcsftime wcsxfrm writev _getpty
+ wcscoll wcsftime wcsxfrm wcswidth writev _getpty
 do :
   as_ac_var=`$as_echo "ac_cv_func_$ac_func" | $as_tr_sh`
 ac_fn_c_check_func "$LINENO" "$ac_func" "$as_ac_var"
diff --git a/configure.in b/configure.in
--- a/configure.in
+++ b/configure.in
@@ -2580,7 +2580,7 @@ AC_CHECK_FUNCS(alarm accept4 setitimer g
  sigtimedwait sigwait sigwaitinfo snprintf strftime strlcpy symlinkat sync \
  sysconf tcgetpgrp tcsetpgrp tempnam timegm times tmpfile tmpnam tmpnam_r \
  truncate uname unlinkat unsetenv utimensat utimes waitid waitpid wait3 wait4 \
- wcscoll wcsftime wcsxfrm writev _getpty)
+ wcscoll wcsftime wcsxfrm wcswidth writev _getpty)
 
 # For some functions, having a definition is not sufficient, since
 # we want to take their address.
diff --git a/pyconfig.h.in b/pyconfig.h.in
--- a/pyconfig.h.in
+++ b/pyconfig.h.in
@@ -1057,6 +1057,9 @@
 /* Define to 1 if you have the `wcsftime' function. */
 #undef HAVE_WCSFTIME
 
+/* Define to 1 if you have the `wcswidth' function. */
+#undef HAVE_WCSWIDTH
+
 /* Define to 1 if you have the `wcsxfrm' function. */
 #undef HAVE_WCSXFRM