diff --git a/drw.c b/drw.c
index 8fd1ca4..68c1830 100644
--- a/drw.c
+++ b/drw.c
@@ -247,6 +247,50 @@ drw_rect(Drw *drw, int x, int y, unsigned int w, unsigned int h, int filled, int
 		XDrawRectangle(drw->dpy, drw->drawable, drw->gc, x, y, w - 1, h - 1);
 }
 
+int
+drw_get_width(Drw *drw, int numcolors, const char *text)
+{
+	int i;
+	int w = drw_text(drw, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, text, 0);
+
+	for (i = 0; i < strlen(text); i++)
+		if (text[i] > 0 && text[i] <= numcolors)
+			/* we found a color code
+			 * drw_text counted it as a normal character and added one character's width
+			 * we aren't going to render this character, so we remove one character's width */
+			w -= drw->fonts->xfont->max_advance_width;
+
+  return w;
+}
+
+int
+drw_color_text(Drw *drw, int x, int y, unsigned int w, unsigned int h, unsigned int lpad, const char *text, int invert, int numcolors, Clr **scheme)
+{
+	int render = x || y || w || h;
+	char *buf = (char*)text, *ptr = buf, c = 1;
+	int i;
+
+	if (!drw || (render && !drw->scheme) || !text || !drw->fonts)
+		return 0;
+
+	while (*ptr) {
+		for (i = 0; *ptr < 0 || *ptr > numcolors; i++, ptr++);
+		if (!*ptr)
+			break;
+		c = *ptr;
+		*ptr = 0;
+		if (i) {
+			unsigned int sw = drw_fontset_getwidth(drw, buf);
+			x = drw_text(drw, x, y, sw, h, lpad, buf, invert);
+		}
+
+		*ptr = c;
+		drw_setscheme(drw, scheme[c-1]);
+		buf = ++ptr;
+	}
+	return drw_text(drw, x, y, w, h, lpad, buf, invert);
+}
+
 int
 drw_text(Drw *drw, int x, int y, unsigned int w, unsigned int h, unsigned int lpad, const char *text, int invert)
 {
diff --git a/drw.h b/drw.h
index 4bcd5ad..2675971 100644
--- a/drw.h
+++ b/drw.h
@@ -55,3 +55,7 @@ int drw_text(Drw *drw, int x, int y, unsigned int w, unsigned int h, unsigned in
 
 /* Map functions */
 void drw_map(Drw *drw, Window win, int x, int y, unsigned int w, unsigned int h);
+
+/* Drawing color text functions */
+int drw_get_width(Drw *drw, int numcolors, const char *text);
+int drw_color_text(Drw *drw, int x, int y, unsigned int w, unsigned int h, unsigned int lpad, const char *text, int invert, int numcolors, Clr **scheme);
diff --git a/dwm.c b/dwm.c
index 4465af1..8b77209 100644
--- a/dwm.c
+++ b/dwm.c
@@ -704,8 +704,8 @@ drawbar(Monitor *m)
 	/* draw status first so it can be overdrawn by tags later */
 	if (m == selmon) { /* status is only drawn on selected monitor */
 		drw_setscheme(drw, scheme[SchemeNorm]);
-		sw = TEXTW(stext) - lrpad + 2; /* 2px right padding */
-		drw_text(drw, m->ww - sw, 0, sw, bh, 0, stext, 0);
+		sw = drw_get_width(drw, LENGTH(colors), stext) + 2; /*2px right padding */
+		drw_color_text(drw, m->ww - sw, 0, sw, bh, 0, stext, 0, LENGTH(colors), scheme);
 	}
 
 	for (c = m->clients; c; c = c->next) {