diff --git a/icu4j/src/com/ibm/icu/text/UnicodeSetIterator.java b/icu4j/src/com/ibm/icu/text/UnicodeSetIterator.java
index 0f2ca8c4950..b625a2a1f12 100755
--- a/icu4j/src/com/ibm/icu/text/UnicodeSetIterator.java
+++ b/icu4j/src/com/ibm/icu/text/UnicodeSetIterator.java
@@ -5,8 +5,8 @@
  *******************************************************************************
  *
  * $Source: /xsrl/Nsvn/icu/icu4j/src/com/ibm/icu/text/UnicodeSetIterator.java,v $ 
- * $Date: 2003/06/03 18:49:35 $ 
- * $Revision: 1.14 $
+ * $Date: 2003/09/29 15:27:12 $ 
+ * $Revision: 1.15 $
  *
  *****************************************************************************************
  */
@@ -215,6 +215,17 @@ public class UnicodeSetIterator {
         }
     }
     
+    /**
+     * Gets the current string from the iterator. Only use after calling next(), not nextRange().
+     * @internal
+     */
+    public String getString() {
+        if (codepoint == IS_STRING) {
+            return UTF16.valueOf(codepoint);
+        }
+        return string;
+    }
+    
     // ======================= PRIVATES ===========================
     
     private UnicodeSet set;