diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/org/typelevel/paiges/Doc.scala b/core/src/main/scala/org/typelevel/paiges/Doc.scala
index 263659e4..46d8ebaf 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/org/typelevel/paiges/Doc.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/org/typelevel/paiges/Doc.scala
@@ -863,11 +863,11 @@ object Doc {
   /**
    * Convert a string to text.
    *
-   * This method translates newlines into an appropriate document
-   * representation. The result may be much more complex than a single
-   * `Text(_)` node.
+   * This method translates newlines into the given
+   * Doc, which should represent a new line and may be
+   * Doc.line, Doc.hardLine, Doc.lineOrSpace
    */
-  def text(str: String): Doc = {
+  def textWithLine(str: String, line: Doc): Doc = {
     def tx(i: Int, j: Int): Doc =
       if (i == j) Empty else Text(str.substring(i, j))
 
@@ -881,16 +881,25 @@ object Doc {
           case _    => parse(i - 1, limit, doc)
         }
 
-    if (str == "") Empty
-    else if (str.length == 1) {
+    val len = str.length
+
+    if (len == 0) Empty
+    else if (len == 1) {
       val c = str.charAt(0)
       if ((' ' <= c) && (c <= '~')) charTable(c.toInt - 32)
       else if (c == '\n') line
       else Text(str)
     } else if (str.indexOf('\n') < 0) Text(str)
-    else parse(str.length - 1, str.length, Empty)
+    else parse(len - 1, len, Empty)
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Convert a string to text.
+   *
+   * This method translates newlines into Doc.line (which can be flattened).
+   */
+  def text(str: String): Doc = textWithLine(str, line)
+
   /**
    * Convert an arbitrary value to a Doc, using `toString`.
    *
diff --git a/core/src/test/scala/org/typelevel/paiges/PaigesScalacheckTest.scala b/core/src/test/scala/org/typelevel/paiges/PaigesScalacheckTest.scala
index 668ee939..fcdb17b9 100644
--- a/core/src/test/scala/org/typelevel/paiges/PaigesScalacheckTest.scala
+++ b/core/src/test/scala/org/typelevel/paiges/PaigesScalacheckTest.scala
@@ -558,4 +558,42 @@ class PaigesScalacheckTest extends OurFunSuite {
   test("Doc.defer(x).representation(true) = x.representation(true)") {
     forAll((x: Doc) => assertEq(Doc.defer(x).representation(true), x.representation(true)))
   }
+
+  test("textWithLine with hardLine has lines <= textWithLine") {
+    forAll { (str: String, i0: Int) =>
+      // make a number between 0 and 199
+      val width = (i0 & 0x7fffffff) % 200
+      val str0 = Doc.text(str).flatten
+      val str1 = Doc.textWithLine(str, Doc.line).flatten
+      val str2 = Doc.textWithLine(str, Doc.hardLine).flatten
+
+      val r1 = str0.render(width)
+      val r2 = str1.render(width)
+      val r3 = str2.render(width)
+      assert(r1 == r2)
+
+      def maxLineLen(str: String): Int =
+        str.split("\n").foldLeft(0)((acc, line) => math.max(acc, line.length))
+
+      // hard lines can't be combined
+      assert(maxLineLen(r1) >= maxLineLen(r3))
+    }
+  }
+
+  test("textWithLine is different from text when there is a line and we render wide") {
+    forAll { (str: String) =>
+      val hasLine = str.exists(_ == '\n')
+
+      val tStr = Doc.text(str).flatten.renderWideStream.mkString
+      val hlStr = Doc.textWithLine(str, Doc.hardLine).flatten.renderWideStream.mkString
+
+      assert(hasLine == (tStr != hlStr))
+    }
+  }
+
+  test("Doc.textWithLine(\"\\n\", d) eq d") {
+    forAll { (doc: Doc) =>
+      assert(Doc.textWithLine("\n", doc) eq doc)
+    }
+  }
 }