diff --git a/all.h b/all.h
index 99609d9..d126b95 100644
--- a/all.h
+++ b/all.h
@@ -776,6 +776,7 @@ typedef struct StringArena {
 fn StringChunkList allocStringChunkList(StringArena* a, String string);
 fn void releaseStringChunkList(StringArena* a, StringChunkList* list);
 fn String stringChunkToString(Arena* a, StringChunkList list);
+fn String stringChunkToStringWithPadding(Arena* a, StringChunkList list, u32 extra);
 fn void stringChunkListAppend(StringArena* a, StringChunkList* list, String string);
 fn void stringChunkListDeleteLast(StringArena* a, StringChunkList* list);
 fn StringChunkList stringChunkListInit(StringArena* a);
diff --git a/string_chunk.c b/string_chunk.c
index 7ebd38c..5dcfe04 100644
--- a/string_chunk.c
+++ b/string_chunk.c
@@ -40,10 +40,15 @@ fn void releaseStringChunkList(StringArena* a, StringChunkList* list) {
 }
 
 fn String stringChunkToString(Arena* a, StringChunkList list) {
+  return stringChunkToStringWithPadding(a, list, 0);
+}
+
+fn String stringChunkToStringWithPadding(Arena* a, StringChunkList list, u32 extra) {
+  u32 cap = list.total_size + 1 + extra;
   String result = {
     .length = list.total_size,
-    .capacity = list.total_size + 1,
-    .bytes = arenaAllocArray(a, u8, list.total_size+1),
+    .capacity = cap,
+    .bytes = arenaAllocArray(a, u8, cap),
   };
   MemoryZero(result.bytes, result.capacity);
   // copy the string bytes out of the StringChunkList into the correctly-sized String