diff --git a/lib/ace/background_tokenizer.js b/lib/ace/background_tokenizer.js
index 2fe9dceb..179c1d1b 100644
--- a/lib/ace/background_tokenizer.js
+++ b/lib/ace/background_tokenizer.js
@@ -222,10 +222,15 @@ var BackgroundTokenizer = function(tokenizer, editor) {
      *
      * @param {Number} row The row to get state at
      **/
-    this.getState = function(row) {
+    this.getState = function(row, column) {
         if (this.currentLine == row)
             this.$tokenizeRow(row);
-        return this.states[row] || "start";
+        if (typeof column != "number")
+            return this.states[row] || "start";
+        
+        var line = this.doc.getLine(row);
+        var state = this.states[row - 1];
+        return this.tokenizer.getStateAt(line, column, state, row);
     };
 
     this.$tokenizeRow = function(row) {
diff --git a/lib/ace/tokenizer.js b/lib/ace/tokenizer.js
index b4ef627b..ecddd4ae 100644
--- a/lib/ace/tokenizer.js
+++ b/lib/ace/tokenizer.js
@@ -325,6 +325,72 @@ var Tokenizer = function(rules) {
         };
     };
 
+    this.getStateAt = function(line, column, startState) {
+        if (startState && typeof startState != "string") {
+            var stack = startState.slice(0);
+            startState = stack[0];
+        } else
+            var stack = [];
+        
+        column = Math.min(column, line.length);
+        var tokenCount = MAX_TOKEN_COUNT;
+
+        var currentState = startState || "start";
+        var state = this.states[currentState];
+        var mapping = this.matchMappings[currentState];
+        var re = this.regExps[currentState];
+        re.lastIndex = 0;
+
+        var match, tokens = [];
+        var lastIndex = 0;
+
+        while (match = re.exec(line)) {
+            var type = mapping.defaultToken;
+            var rule = null;
+            var value = match[0];
+            var index = re.lastIndex;
+
+            for (var i = 0; i < match.length-2; i++) {
+                if (match[i + 1] === undefined)
+                    continue;
+
+                rule = state[mapping[i]];
+
+                if (rule.onMatch)
+                    rule.onMatch(value, currentState, stack);
+
+                if (rule.next) {
+                    if (typeof rule.next == "string")
+                        currentState = rule.next;
+                    else
+                        currentState = rule.next(currentState, stack);
+
+                    state = this.states[currentState];
+                    if (!state) {
+                        window.console && console.error && console.error(currentState, "doesn't exist");
+                        currentState = "start";
+                        state = this.states[currentState];
+                    }
+                    mapping = this.matchMappings[currentState];
+                    lastIndex = index;
+                    re = this.regExps[currentState];
+                    re.lastIndex = index;
+                }
+                break;
+            }
+
+            if (lastIndex >= column)
+                break;
+
+            lastIndex = index;
+
+            if (!tokenCount--) {
+                break;
+            }
+        }
+        return stack.length ? stack : currentState;
+    };
+    
 }).call(Tokenizer.prototype);
 
 exports.Tokenizer = Tokenizer;