diff --git a/src/builtin_string.cpp b/src/builtin_string.cpp
index ca2b47e89..b6cf4f936 100644
--- a/src/builtin_string.cpp
+++ b/src/builtin_string.cpp
@@ -203,11 +203,13 @@ struct options_t {  //!OCLINT(too many fields)
 
 static size_t width_without_escapes(const wcstring &ins) {
     ssize_t width = 0;
-    // TODO: this is the same as fish_wcwidth_min_0 from screen.cpp
-    // Make that reusable (and add a wcswidth version).
     for (auto c : ins) {
-        auto w = fish_wcwidth(c);
-        if (w > 0) width += w;
+        auto w = fish_wcwidth_visible(c);
+        // We assume that this string is on its own line,
+        // in which case a backslash can't bring us below 0.
+        if (w > 0 || width > 0) {
+            width += w;
+        }
     }
 
     // ANSI escape sequences like \e\[31m contain printable characters. Subtract their width
@@ -218,8 +220,8 @@ static size_t width_without_escapes(const wcstring &ins) {
         if (len) {
             auto sub = ins.substr(pos, *len);
             for (auto c : sub) {
-                auto w = fish_wcwidth(c);
-                if (w > 0) width -= w;
+                auto w = fish_wcwidth_visible(c);
+                width -= w;
             }
             // Move us forward behind the escape code,
             // it might include a second escape!
diff --git a/src/screen.cpp b/src/screen.cpp
index 7d4e44ebe..49a1bef48 100644
--- a/src/screen.cpp
+++ b/src/screen.cpp
@@ -81,13 +81,14 @@ static size_t next_tab_stop(size_t current_line_width) {
     return ((current_line_width / tab_width) + 1) * tab_width;
 }
 
-/// Like fish_wcwidth, but returns 0 for control characters instead of -1.
-static int fish_wcwidth_min_0(wchar_t widechar) { return std::max(0, fish_wcwidth(widechar)); }
-
 int line_t::wcswidth_min_0(size_t max) const {
     int result = 0;
     for (size_t idx = 0, end = std::min(max, text.size()); idx < end; idx++) {
-        result += fish_wcwidth_min_0(text[idx].character);
+        auto w = fish_wcwidth_visible(text[idx].character);
+        // A backspace at the start of the line does nothing.
+        if (w > 0 || result > 0) {
+            result += w;
+        }
     }
     return result;
 }
@@ -351,7 +352,11 @@ static size_t measure_run_from(const wchar_t *input, size_t start, size_t *out_e
             width = next_tab_stop(width);
         } else {
             // Ordinary char. Add its width with care to ignore control chars which have width -1.
-            width += fish_wcwidth_min_0(input[idx]);
+            auto w = fish_wcwidth_visible(input[idx]);
+            // A backspace at the start of the line does nothing.
+            if (w != -1 || width > 0) {
+               width += w;
+            }
         }
     }
     if (out_end) *out_end = idx;
@@ -389,7 +394,7 @@ static void truncate_run(wcstring *run, size_t desired_width, size_t *width,
             curr_width = measure_run_from(run->c_str(), 0, nullptr, cache);
             idx = 0;
         } else {
-            size_t char_width = fish_wcwidth_min_0(c);
+            size_t char_width = fish_wcwidth_visible(c);
             curr_width -= std::min(curr_width, char_width);
             run->erase(idx, 1);
         }
@@ -856,7 +861,7 @@ static void s_update(screen_t *scr, const wcstring &left_prompt, const wcstring
         // Skip over skip_remaining width worth of characters.
         size_t j = 0;
         for (; j < o_line.size(); j++) {
-            size_t width = fish_wcwidth_min_0(o_line.char_at(j));
+            size_t width = fish_wcwidth_visible(o_line.char_at(j));
             if (skip_remaining < width) break;
             skip_remaining -= width;
             current_width += width;
@@ -864,7 +869,7 @@ static void s_update(screen_t *scr, const wcstring &left_prompt, const wcstring
 
         // Skip over zero-width characters (e.g. combining marks at the end of the prompt).
         for (; j < o_line.size(); j++) {
-            int width = fish_wcwidth_min_0(o_line.char_at(j));
+            int width = fish_wcwidth_visible(o_line.char_at(j));
             if (width > 0) break;
         }
 
@@ -888,7 +893,7 @@ static void s_update(screen_t *scr, const wcstring &left_prompt, const wcstring
             perform_any_impending_soft_wrap(scr, current_width, static_cast<int>(i));
             s_move(scr, current_width, static_cast<int>(i));
             set_color(o_line.color_at(j));
-            auto width = fish_wcwidth_min_0(o_line.char_at(j));
+            auto width = fish_wcwidth_visible(o_line.char_at(j));
             s_write_char(scr, o_line.char_at(j), width);
             current_width += width;
         }
@@ -1035,7 +1040,7 @@ static screen_layout_t compute_layout(screen_t *s, size_t screen_width,
             multiline = true;
             break;
         } else {
-            first_line_width += fish_wcwidth_min_0(c);
+            first_line_width += fish_wcwidth_visible(c);
         }
     }
     const size_t first_command_line_width = first_line_width;
@@ -1050,7 +1055,7 @@ static screen_layout_t compute_layout(screen_t *s, size_t screen_width,
         autosuggest_truncated_widths.reserve(1 + autosuggestion_str.size());
         for (size_t i = 0; autosuggestion[i] != L'\0'; i++) {
             autosuggest_truncated_widths.push_back(autosuggest_total_width);
-            autosuggest_total_width += fish_wcwidth_min_0(autosuggestion[i]);
+            autosuggest_total_width += fish_wcwidth_visible(autosuggestion[i]);
         }
     }
 
@@ -1219,7 +1224,7 @@ void s_write(screen_t *s, const wcstring &left_prompt, const wcstring &right_pro
         }
         s_desired_append_char(s, effective_commandline.at(i), colors[i], indent[i],
                               first_line_prompt_space,
-                              fish_wcwidth_min_0(effective_commandline.at(i)));
+                              fish_wcwidth_visible(effective_commandline.at(i)));
     }
 
     // Cursor may have been at the end too.
diff --git a/src/wcstringutil.cpp b/src/wcstringutil.cpp
index aaea65e7f..9e33b0c12 100644
--- a/src/wcstringutil.cpp
+++ b/src/wcstringutil.cpp
@@ -310,3 +310,20 @@ wcstring join_strings(const wcstring_list_t &vals, wchar_t sep) {
 void wcs2string_bad_char(wchar_t wc) {
     FLOGF(char_encoding, L"Wide character U+%4X has no narrow representation", wc);
 }
+
+int fish_wcwidth_visible(wchar_t widechar) {
+    if (widechar == L'\b') return -1;
+    return std::max(0, fish_wcwidth(widechar));
+}
+
+int fish_wcswidth_visible(const wcstring &str) {
+    size_t res = 0;
+    for (wchar_t ch : str) {
+        if (ch == L'\b') {
+            res += -1;
+        } else {
+            res += std::max(0, fish_wcwidth(ch));
+        }
+    }
+    return res;
+}
diff --git a/src/wcstringutil.h b/src/wcstringutil.h
index 7ffb2a79c..d10304bfa 100644
--- a/src/wcstringutil.h
+++ b/src/wcstringutil.h
@@ -294,4 +294,11 @@ class line_iterator_t {
     }
 };
 
+/// Like fish_wcwidth, but returns 0 for characters with no real width instead of -1.
+int fish_wcwidth_visible(wchar_t widechar);
+
+/// The same, but for all chars. Note that this only makes sense if the string has an arbitrary long prefix - backslashes can move the cursor *before* the string.
+///
+/// In typical usage, you probably want to wrap wcwidth_visible to accumulate the width, but never go below 0.
+int fish_wcswidth_visible(const wcstring &str);
 #endif
diff --git a/tests/checks/string.fish b/tests/checks/string.fish
index 8f4296b96..fdf4f0e6f 100644
--- a/tests/checks/string.fish
+++ b/tests/checks/string.fish
@@ -112,6 +112,23 @@ string length --visible a(set_color blue)b\ncde
 # CHECK: 2
 # CHECK: 3
 
+# Backslashes and visible length:
+# It can't move us before the start of the line.
+string length --visible \b
+# CHECK: 0
+
+# It can't move us before the start of the line.
+string length --visible \bf
+# CHECK: 1
+
+# But it does erase chars before.
+string length --visible \bf\b
+# CHECK: 0
+
+# Never move past 0.
+string length --visible \bf\b\b\b\b\b
+# CHECK: 0
+
 string sub --length 2 abcde
 # CHECK: ab