diff --git a/builtin.cpp b/builtin.cpp
index a01c2519b..e4f276f9f 100644
--- a/builtin.cpp
+++ b/builtin.cpp
@@ -220,7 +220,14 @@ wcstring builtin_help_get(parser_t &parser, const wchar_t *name)
     wcstring_list_t lst;
     wcstring out;
     const wcstring name_esc = escape_string(name, 1);
-    const wcstring cmd = format_string(L"__fish_print_help %ls", name_esc.c_str());
+    wcstring cmd = format_string(L"__fish_print_help %ls", name_esc.c_str());
+    if (!builtin_out_redirect && isatty(1))
+    {
+        // since we're using a subshell, __fish_print_help can't tell we're in
+        // a terminal. Tell it ourselves.
+        int cols = common_get_width();
+        cmd = format_string(L"__fish_print_help --tty-width %d %ls", cols, name_esc.c_str());
+    }
     if (exec_subshell(cmd, lst, false /* don't apply exit status */) >= 0)
     {
         for (size_t i=0; i<lst.size(); i++)
diff --git a/share/functions/__fish_print_help.fish b/share/functions/__fish_print_help.fish
index 46246e342..0af723bab 100644
--- a/share/functions/__fish_print_help.fish
+++ b/share/functions/__fish_print_help.fish
@@ -1,4 +1,11 @@
 function __fish_print_help --description "Print help message for the specified fish function or builtin" --argument item
+	# special support for builtin_help_get()
+	set -l tty_width
+	if test "$item" = "--tty-width"
+		set tty_width $argv[2]
+		set item $argv[3]
+	end
+
 	if test "$item" = '.'
 		set item source
 	end
@@ -12,19 +19,23 @@ function __fish_print_help --description "Print help message for the specified f
 
 	# Render help output, save output into the variable 'help'
 	set -l help
+	set -l cols
 	set -l rLL
-	if command test -t 1
+	if test "$tty_width" -gt 0
+		set cols $tty_width
+	else if command test -t 1
 		# We want to simulate `man`'s dynamic line length, because
 		# defaulting to 80 kind of sucks.
 		# Note: using `command test` instead of `test` because `test -t 1`
 		# doesn't seem to work right.
 		# Note: grab the size from the stdout terminal in case it's somehow
 		# different than the stdin of fish.
-		set -l cols
+		# use fd 3 to copy our stdout because we need to pipe the output of stty
 		begin
-			# use fd 3 to copy our stdout because we need to pipe the output of stty
 			stty size 0<&3 | read _ cols
 		end 3<&1
+	end
+	if test -n "$cols"
 		set cols (expr $cols - 4) # leave a bit of space on the right
 		set rLL -rLL=$cols[1]n
 	end