diff --git a/lib/ReadGDSIIFile.cc b/lib/ReadGDSIIFile.cc
index 9ac8d92..dbfdd48 100644
--- a/lib/ReadGDSIIFile.cc
+++ b/lib/ReadGDSIIFile.cc
@@ -529,13 +529,11 @@ double ConvertReal(BYTE *Bytes, DataType DType)
 }
 
 
-// The allowed characters are [a-zA-Z?$_].
+// The allowed characters are all ASCII-printable characters, including space, except comma (,) and double quote (").
 // Non-allowed characters at the end of the string are removed.
 // Non-allowed characters not at the end of the string are converted to underscores.
 bool IsAllowedChar(char c)
-{ c=tolower(c);
-  return ('a' <= c && c <= 'z') || c=='$' || c=='_' || c=='?';
-}
+{ return isprint(c) && c!='"' && c!=','; }
 
 string *MakeGDSIIString(char *Original, int Size)
 { 
diff --git a/lib/libGDSII.cc b/lib/libGDSII.cc
index ad26acb..8101f25 100644
--- a/lib/libGDSII.cc
+++ b/lib/libGDSII.cc
@@ -43,7 +43,6 @@ GDSIIData::GDSIIData(const string FileName)
   UnitInMeters  = 1.0e-6;
   FileUnits[0]  = FileUnits[1]=0.0;
   GDSIIFileName = new string(FileName);
-
   ReadGDSIIFile(FileName);
 
   // at this point ErrMsg is non-null if an error occurred
@@ -124,6 +123,26 @@ PolygonList GDSIIData::GetPolygons(const char *Text, int Layer)
 PolygonList GDSIIData::GetPolygons(int Layer) 
  { return GetPolygons(0,Layer); }
 
+TextString NewTextString(Entity E, int Layer)
+{ TextString TS;
+  TS.Text  = E.Text;
+  TS.XY    = dVec(E.XY);
+  TS.Layer = Layer;
+  return TS;
+}
+
+TextStringList GDSIIData::GetTextStrings(int Layer)
+{ 
+  TextStringList TextStrings;
+  for(size_t nl=0; nl<Layers.size(); nl++)
+   { if (Layer!=-1 && Layers[nl]!=Layer) continue;
+     for(size_t ne=0; ne<ETable[nl].size(); ne++)
+      if ( ETable[nl][ne].Text )
+       TextStrings.push_back( NewTextString( ETable[nl][ne], Layers[nl] ) );
+   }
+  return TextStrings;
+}
+
 /***************************************************************/
 /* the next few routines implement a mechanism by which an API */
 /* code can make multiple calls to GetPolygons() for a given   */
@@ -157,6 +176,11 @@ PolygonList GetPolygons(const char *GDSIIFile, const char *Label, int Layer)
 PolygonList GetPolygons(const char *GDSIIFile, int Layer)
  { return GetPolygons(GDSIIFile, 0, Layer); }
 
+TextStringList GetTextStrings(const char *GDSIIFile, int Layer)
+{ OpenGDSIIFile(GDSIIFile);
+  return CachedGDSIIData->GetTextStrings(Layer);
+}
+
 /***************************************************************/
 /* find the value of s at which the line p+s*d intersects the  */
 /* line segment connecting v1 to v2 (in 2 dimensions)          */
diff --git a/lib/libGDSII.h b/lib/libGDSII.h
index 942742f..d520c86 100644
--- a/lib/libGDSII.h
+++ b/lib/libGDSII.h
@@ -61,6 +61,9 @@ using namespace std;
 /****************************************************************************************/
 typedef vector<dVec> PolygonList;
 
+typedef struct { char *Text; dVec XY; int Layer; } TextString;
+typedef vector<TextString> TextStringList;
+
 /***************************************************************/
 /* Data structures used to process GDSII files:                */
 /*  (a) GDSIIElement and GDSIIStruct are used to store info    */
@@ -142,7 +145,8 @@ namespace libGDSII
        // If Layer==-1, search all layers.
        // If Text==NULL, return a list of all polygons on the given layer.
        PolygonList GetPolygons(const char *Text, int Layer=-1);
-       PolygonList GetPolygons(int Layer);
+       PolygonList GetPolygons(int Layer=-1);
+       TextStringList GetTextStrings(int Layer=-1);
 
      /*--------------------------------------------------------*/
      /* API data fields                                        */
@@ -201,7 +205,8 @@ bool PointInPolygon(dVec Vertices, double X, double Y);
 /* to free memory allocated for the cache.                             */
 /***********************************************************************/
 PolygonList GetPolygons(const char *GDSIIFile, const char *Text, int Layer=-1);
-PolygonList GetPolygons(const char *GDSIIFile, int Layer);
+PolygonList GetPolygons(const char *GDSIIFile, int Layer=-1);
+TextStringList GetTextStrings(const char *GDSIIFile, int Layer=-1);
 void ClearGDSIICache();
 
 /***************************************************************/