diff --git a/src/highlighting.c b/src/highlighting.c
index 65d15164b4..f0669e5ba3 100644
--- a/src/highlighting.c
+++ b/src/highlighting.c
@@ -1159,6 +1159,30 @@ void highlighting_set_styles(ScintillaObject *sci, GeanyFiletype *ft)
 }
 
 
+/** Retrieves a @a named_style.
+ * If a style with the name @a named_style does not exist, NULL will be returned.
+ * @param named_style Key/name of the style as specified in the colorscheme file
+ * @return A pointer to the style struct.
+ */
+GEANY_API_SYMBOL
+const GeanyLexerStyle *highlighting_get_named_style(const gchar *named_style)
+{
+	GeanyLexerStyle *cs;
+	gchar *comma, *name = NULL;
+
+	g_return_val_if_fail(named_style, NULL);
+	name = utils_strdupa(named_style);	/* named_style must not be written to, may be a static string */
+
+	comma = strstr(name, ",");
+	if (comma)
+	{
+		*comma = '\0';	/* terminate name to make lookup work */
+	}
+	cs = g_hash_table_lookup(named_style_hash, name);
+	return cs;
+}
+
+
 /** Retrieves a style @a style_id for the filetype @a ft_id.
  * If the style was not already initialised
  * (e.g. by by opening a file of this type), it will be initialised. The returned pointer is
diff --git a/src/highlighting.h b/src/highlighting.h
index 73079472c1..8c0c477baa 100644
--- a/src/highlighting.h
+++ b/src/highlighting.h
@@ -45,6 +45,8 @@ typedef struct GeanyLexerStyle
 GeanyLexerStyle;
 
 
+const GeanyLexerStyle *highlighting_get_named_style(const gchar *named_style);
+
 const GeanyLexerStyle *highlighting_get_style(gint ft_id, gint style_id);
 
 void highlighting_set_styles(ScintillaObject *sci, GeanyFiletype *ft);
diff --git a/src/plugindata.h b/src/plugindata.h
index 8fb0e35140..ad5ab77bbb 100644
--- a/src/plugindata.h
+++ b/src/plugindata.h
@@ -58,7 +58,7 @@ G_BEGIN_DECLS
  * @warning You should not test for values below 200 as previously
  * @c GEANY_API_VERSION was defined as an enum value, not a macro.
  */
-#define GEANY_API_VERSION 239
+#define GEANY_API_VERSION 240
 
 /* hack to have a different ABI when built with GTK3 because loading GTK2-linked plugins
  * with GTK3-linked Geany leads to crash */