diff --git a/src/core/special-vars.c b/src/core/special-vars.c
index 638ab0bd..32a855c8 100644
--- a/src/core/special-vars.c
+++ b/src/core/special-vars.c
@@ -26,10 +26,6 @@
 #include "servers.h"
 #include "misc.h"
 
-#define ALIGN_RIGHT 0x01
-#define ALIGN_CUT   0x02
-#define ALIGN_PAD   0x04
-
 #define isvarchar(c) \
         (i_isalnum(c) || (c) == '_')
 
@@ -316,7 +312,7 @@ static int get_alignment_args(char **data, int *align, int *flags, char *pad)
 }
 
 /* return the aligned text */
-static char *get_alignment(const char *text, int align, int flags, char pad)
+char *get_alignment(const char *text, int align, int flags, char pad)
 {
 	gchar *ret;
 	gchar *ret_p;
diff --git a/src/core/special-vars.h b/src/core/special-vars.h
index 11262dad..621357e2 100644
--- a/src/core/special-vars.h
+++ b/src/core/special-vars.h
@@ -9,9 +9,17 @@
 #define PARSE_FLAG_ESCAPE_THEME 0x08 /* if any arguments/variables contain { or } chars, escape them with % */
 #define PARSE_FLAG_ONLY_ARGS	0x10 /* expand only arguments ($0 $1 etc.) but no other $variables */
 
+#define ALIGN_RIGHT 0x01
+#define ALIGN_CUT   0x02
+#define ALIGN_PAD   0x04
+
 typedef char* (*SPECIAL_HISTORY_FUNC)
 	(const char *text, void *item, int *free_ret);
 
+
+/* Cut and/or pad text so it takes exactly "align" characters on the screen */
+char *get_alignment(const char *text, int align, int flags, char pad);
+
 /* Parse and expand text after '$' character. return value has to be
    g_free()'d if `free_ret' is TRUE. */
 char *parse_special(char **cmd, SERVER_REC *server, void *item,