diff --git a/lbaselib.c b/lbaselib.c
index 64dfb549..bc169563 100644
--- a/lbaselib.c
+++ b/lbaselib.c
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
-** $Id: lbaselib.c,v 1.256 2010/12/17 15:14:58 roberto Exp roberto $
+** $Id: lbaselib.c,v 1.257 2010/12/27 18:00:38 roberto Exp roberto $
 ** Basic library
 ** See Copyright Notice in lua.h
 */
@@ -133,6 +133,15 @@ static int luaB_rawequal (lua_State *L) {
 }
 
 
+static int luaB_rawlen (lua_State *L) {
+  int t = lua_type(L, 1);
+  luaL_argcheck(L, t == LUA_TTABLE || t == LUA_TSTRING, 1, 
+                   "table or string expected");
+  lua_pushinteger(L, lua_rawlen(L, 1));
+  return 1;
+}
+
+
 static int luaB_rawget (lua_State *L) {
   luaL_checktype(L, 1, LUA_TTABLE);
   luaL_checkany(L, 2);
@@ -447,6 +456,7 @@ static const luaL_Reg base_funcs[] = {
   {"pcall", luaB_pcall},
   {"print", luaB_print},
   {"rawequal", luaB_rawequal},
+  {"rawlen", luaB_rawlen},
   {"rawget", luaB_rawget},
   {"rawset", luaB_rawset},
   {"select", luaB_select},