diff --git a/library/smarty/libs/plugins/modifiercompiler.count_characters.php b/library/smarty/libs/plugins/modifiercompiler.count_characters.php
new file mode 100644
--- /dev/null
+++ b/library/smarty/libs/plugins/modifiercompiler.count_characters.php
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+<?php
+/**
+ * Smarty plugin
+ *
+ * @package    Smarty
+ * @subpackage PluginsModifierCompiler
+ */
+
+/**
+ * Smarty count_characters modifier plugin
+ * Type:     modifier<br>
+ * Name:     count_characteres<br>
+ * Purpose:  count the number of characters in a text
+ *
+ * @link   http://www.smarty.net/manual/en/language.modifier.count.characters.php count_characters (Smarty online manual)
+ * @author Uwe Tews
+ *
+ * @param array $params parameters
+ *
+ * @return string with compiled code
+ */
+function smarty_modifiercompiler_count_characters($params) {
+    if (!isset($params[1]) || $params[1] != 'true') {
+        return 'preg_match_all(\'/[^\s]/' . Smarty::$_UTF8_MODIFIER . '\',' . $params[0] . ', $tmp)';
+    }
+    if (Smarty::$_MBSTRING) {
+        return 'mb_strlen(' . $params[0] . ', \'' . addslashes(Smarty::$_CHARSET) . '\')';
+    }
+    // no MBString fallback
+    return 'strlen(' . $params[0] . ')';
+}