diff --git a/lib/puppet/util/terminal.rb b/lib/puppet/util/terminal.rb
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..8674a4956
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/puppet/util/terminal.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+module Puppet::Util::Terminal
+  class << self
+    # Borrowed shamelessly from Thor, who borrowed this from Rake.
+    def width
+      if Puppet.features.posix?
+        result = %x{stty size 2>/dev/null}.split[1] ||
+                 %x{tput cols 2>/dev/null}.split[0] ||
+                '80'
+      end
+      return result.to_i
+    rescue
+      return 80
+    end
+  end
+end
diff --git a/spec/unit/util/terminal_spec.rb b/spec/unit/util/terminal_spec.rb
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d01754914
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/unit/util/terminal_spec.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env rspec
+require 'spec_helper'
+require 'puppet/util/terminal'
+
+describe Puppet::Util::Terminal do
+  describe '.width' do
+    it 'should invoke `stty` and return the width' do
+      height, width = 100, 200
+      subject.expects(:`).with('stty size 2>/dev/null').returns("#{height} #{width}\n")
+      subject.width.should == width
+    end
+
+    it 'should use `tput` if `stty` is unavailable' do
+      width = 200
+      subject.expects(:`).with('stty size 2>/dev/null').returns("\n")
+      subject.expects(:`).with('tput cols 2>/dev/null').returns("#{width}\n")
+      subject.width.should == width
+    end
+
+    it 'should default to 80 columns if `tput` and `stty` are unavailable' do
+      width = 80
+      subject.expects(:`).with('stty size 2>/dev/null').returns("\n")
+      subject.expects(:`).with('tput cols 2>/dev/null').returns("\n")
+      subject.width.should == width
+    end
+
+    it 'should default to 80 columns if `tput` or `stty` raise exceptions' do
+      width = 80
+      subject.expects(:`).with('stty size 2>/dev/null').raises()
+      subject.stubs(:`).with('tput cols 2>/dev/null').returns("#{width + 1000}\n")
+      subject.width.should == width
+    end
+  end
+end