diff --git a/Filelist b/Filelist
index 42eaa1d..e44c1fd 100644
--- a/Filelist
+++ b/Filelist
@@ -197,6 +197,7 @@
 		src/testdir/samples/*.txt \
 		src/testdir/samples/test000 \
 		src/testdir/color_ramp.vim \
+		src/testdir/emoji_list.vim \
 		src/testdir/silent.wav \
 		src/testdir/popupbounce.vim \
 		src/proto.h \
diff --git a/runtime/doc/eval.txt b/runtime/doc/eval.txt
index 129c1e2..e0c8473 100644
--- a/runtime/doc/eval.txt
+++ b/runtime/doc/eval.txt
@@ -2425,6 +2425,7 @@
 				String	status of channel {handle}
 changenr()			Number	current change number
 char2nr({expr} [, {utf8}])	Number	ASCII/UTF8 value of first char in {expr}
+charclass({string})		Number	character class of {string}
 chdir({dir})			String	change current working directory
 cindent({lnum})			Number	C indent for line {lnum}
 clearmatches([{win}])		none	clear all matches
@@ -3520,6 +3521,18 @@
 		Can also be used as a |method|: >
 			GetChar()->char2nr()
 
+
+charclass({string})					*charclass()*
+		Return the character class of the first character in {string}.
+		The character class is one of:
+			0	blank
+			1	punctuation
+			2	word character
+			3	emoji
+			other	specific Unicode class
+		The class is used in patterns and word motions.
+
+
 chdir({dir})						*chdir()*
 		Change the current working directory to {dir}.  The scope of
 		the directory change depends on the directory of the current
diff --git a/runtime/doc/usr_41.txt b/runtime/doc/usr_41.txt
index bcd58c9..10e53ba 100644
--- a/runtime/doc/usr_41.txt
+++ b/runtime/doc/usr_41.txt
@@ -600,6 +600,7 @@
 	strtrans()		translate a string to make it printable
 	tolower()		turn a string to lowercase
 	toupper()		turn a string to uppercase
+	charclass()		class of a character
 	match()			position where a pattern matches in a string
 	matchend()		position where a pattern match ends in a string
 	matchstr()		match of a pattern in a string
diff --git a/src/evalfunc.c b/src/evalfunc.c
index 567bbdf..62bbb88 100644
--- a/src/evalfunc.c
+++ b/src/evalfunc.c
@@ -564,6 +564,7 @@
     {"ch_status",	1, 2, FEARG_1,	  ret_string,	JOB_FUNC(f_ch_status)},
     {"changenr",	0, 0, 0,	  ret_number,	f_changenr},
     {"char2nr",		1, 2, FEARG_1,	  ret_number,	f_char2nr},
+    {"charclass",	1, 1, FEARG_1,	  ret_number,	f_charclass},
     {"chdir",		1, 1, FEARG_1,	  ret_string,	f_chdir},
     {"cindent",		1, 1, FEARG_1,	  ret_number,	f_cindent},
     {"clearmatches",	0, 1, FEARG_1,	  ret_void,	f_clearmatches},
diff --git a/src/mbyte.c b/src/mbyte.c
index d72fb91..3faefa6 100644
--- a/src/mbyte.c
+++ b/src/mbyte.c
@@ -132,7 +132,9 @@
 static int dbcs_ptr2cells_len(char_u *p, int size);
 static int dbcs_ptr2char(char_u *p);
 static int dbcs_head_off(char_u *base, char_u *p);
+#ifdef FEAT_EVAL
 static int cw_value(int c);
+#endif
 
 /*
  * Lookup table to quickly get the length in bytes of a UTF-8 character from
@@ -1388,8 +1390,7 @@
 	{0x26ce, 0x26ce},
 	{0x26d4, 0x26d4},
 	{0x26ea, 0x26ea},
-	{0x26f2, 0x26f3},
-	{0x26f5, 0x26f5},
+	{0x26f2, 0x26f5},
 	{0x26fa, 0x26fa},
 	{0x26fd, 0x26fd},
 	{0x2705, 0x2705},
@@ -1490,6 +1491,21 @@
     // based on http://unicode.org/emoji/charts/emoji-list.html
     static struct interval emoji_wide[] =
     {
+	{0x23ed, 0x23ef},
+	{0x23f1, 0x23f2},
+	{0x23f8, 0x23fa},
+	{0x24c2, 0x24c2},
+	{0x261d, 0x261d},
+	{0x26c8, 0x26c8},
+	{0x26cf, 0x26cf},
+	{0x26d1, 0x26d1},
+	{0x26d3, 0x26d3},
+	{0x26e9, 0x26e9},
+	{0x26f0, 0x26f1},
+	{0x26f7, 0x26f9},
+	{0x270c, 0x270d},
+	{0x2934, 0x2935},
+	{0x1f170, 0x1f189},
 	{0x1f1e6, 0x1f1ff},
 	{0x1f321, 0x1f321},
 	{0x1f324, 0x1f32c},
@@ -1533,11 +1549,15 @@
 
     if (c >= 0x100)
     {
+#if defined(FEAT_EVAL) || defined(USE_WCHAR_FUNCTIONS)
 	int	n;
+#endif
 
+#ifdef FEAT_EVAL
 	n = cw_value(c);
 	if (n != 0)
 	    return n;
+#endif
 
 #ifdef USE_WCHAR_FUNCTIONS
 	/*
@@ -2667,8 +2687,7 @@
     {0x3299, 0x3299},
     {0x1f004, 0x1f004},
     {0x1f0cf, 0x1f0cf},
-    {0x1f170, 0x1f171},
-    {0x1f17e, 0x1f17f},
+    {0x1f170, 0x1f189},
     {0x1f18e, 0x1f18e},
     {0x1f191, 0x1f19a},
     {0x1f1e6, 0x1f1ff},
@@ -2835,6 +2854,10 @@
 	return 1;	    // punctuation
     }
 
+    // emoji
+    if (intable(emoji_all, sizeof(emoji_all), c))
+	return 3;
+
     // binary search in table
     while (top >= bot)
     {
@@ -2847,10 +2870,6 @@
 	    return (int)classes[mid].class;
     }
 
-    // emoji
-    if (intable(emoji_all, sizeof(emoji_all), c))
-	return 3;
-
     // most other characters are "word" characters
     return 2;
 }
@@ -5352,6 +5371,8 @@
     return retval;
 }
 
+#if defined(FEAT_EVAL) || defined(PROTO)
+
 /*
  * Table set by setcellwidths().
  */
@@ -5525,3 +5546,17 @@
     cw_table = table;
     cw_table_size = l->lv_len;
 }
+
+    void
+f_charclass(typval_T *argvars, typval_T *rettv UNUSED)
+{
+    if (argvars[0].v_type != VAR_STRING
+	    || argvars[0].vval.v_string == NULL
+	    || *argvars[0].vval.v_string == NUL)
+    {
+	emsg(_(e_stringreq));
+	return;
+    }
+    rettv->vval.v_number = mb_get_class(argvars[0].vval.v_string);
+}
+#endif
diff --git a/src/proto/mbyte.pro b/src/proto/mbyte.pro
index 9385d85..7a6009e 100644
--- a/src/proto/mbyte.pro
+++ b/src/proto/mbyte.pro
@@ -85,4 +85,5 @@
 char_u *string_convert(vimconv_T *vcp, char_u *ptr, int *lenp);
 char_u *string_convert_ext(vimconv_T *vcp, char_u *ptr, int *lenp, int *unconvlenp);
 void f_setcellwidths(typval_T *argvars, typval_T *rettv);
+void f_charclass(typval_T *argvars, typval_T *rettv);
 /* vim: set ft=c : */
diff --git a/src/testdir/emoji_list.vim b/src/testdir/emoji_list.vim
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e6a73c3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/testdir/emoji_list.vim
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+" Script to fill the window with emoji characters, one per line.
+
+if &modified
+  new
+else
+  enew
+endif
+
+" Use a compiled Vim9 function for speed
+def DoIt()
+  let lnum = 1
+  for c in range(0x100, 0x1ffff)
+    let cs = nr2char(c)
+    if charclass(cs) == 3
+      setline(lnum, '|' .. cs .. '| ' .. strwidth(cs))
+      lnum += 1
+    endif
+  endfor
+enddef
+
+call DoIt()
+set nomodified
diff --git a/src/testdir/test_functions.vim b/src/testdir/test_functions.vim
index e15199b..fd9057d 100644
--- a/src/testdir/test_functions.vim
+++ b/src/testdir/test_functions.vim
@@ -2077,6 +2077,13 @@
   set encoding=utf-8
 endfunc
 
+func Test_charclass()
+  call assert_equal(0, charclass(' '))
+  call assert_equal(1, charclass('.'))
+  call assert_equal(2, charclass('x'))
+  call assert_equal(3, charclass("\u203c"))
+endfunc
+
 func Test_eventhandler()
   call assert_equal(0, eventhandler())
 endfunc
diff --git a/src/version.c b/src/version.c
index 88332a0..92e90fe 100644
--- a/src/version.c
+++ b/src/version.c
@@ -755,6 +755,8 @@
 static int included_patches[] =
 {   /* Add new patch number below this line */
 /**/
+    1536,
+/**/
     1535,
 /**/
     1534,