diff --git a/lib/widget.js b/lib/widget.js
index a0d0b51..d5ca12b 100644
--- a/lib/widget.js
+++ b/lib/widget.js
@@ -2471,10 +2471,7 @@ Element.prototype.parseContent = function(noTags) {
 Element.prototype.textLength = function(text) {
   // return unicode.strWidth(text);
   if (!this.parseTags) return text.length;
-  return text
-    .replace(/{(\/?)([\w\-,;!#]*)}/g, '')
-    .replace(/\x1b\[[\d;]*m/g, '')
-    .length;
+  return helpers.cleanTags(text).length;
 };
 
 // Convert `{red-fg}foo{/red-fg}` to `\x1b[31mfoo\x1b[39m`.
@@ -5142,7 +5139,7 @@ function List(options) {
   this.mouse = options.mouse || false;
 
   if (options.items) {
-    this.ritems = options.items;
+    this.ritems = this.ritemsSet(options.items);
     options.items.forEach(this.add.bind(this));
   }
 
@@ -5282,12 +5279,20 @@ List.prototype.__proto__ = Box.prototype;
 
 List.prototype.type = 'list';
 
+List.prototype.ritemsSet = function(items) {
+  return this.ritems = items.map(helpers.cleanTags);
+};
+
+List.prototype.ritemSet = function(item) {
+  return this.ritems.push(helpers.cleanTags(item));
+};
+
 List.prototype.add =
 List.prototype.addItem =
 List.prototype.appendItem = function(item) {
   var self = this;
 
-  this.ritems.push(item);
+  this.ritemSet(item);
 
   // Note: Could potentially use Button here.
   var options = {
@@ -5382,17 +5387,17 @@ List.prototype.fuzzyFind = function(search, back) {
 
   if (!back) {
     for (var i = start; i < this.ritems.length; i++){
-      if (test(this.items[i].getText())) return i;
+      if (test(this.ritems[i])) return i;
     }
     for (var i = 0; i < start; i++){
-      if (test(this.items[i].getText())) return i;
+      if (test(this.ritems[i])) return i;
     }
   } else {
     for (var i = start; i >= 0; i--){
-      if (test(this.items[i].getText())) return i;
+      if (test(this.ritems[i])) return i;
     }
     for (var i = this.ritems.length - 1; i > start; i--){
-      if (test(this.items[i].getText())) return i;
+      if (test(this.ritems[i])) return i;
     }
   }
 
@@ -5450,10 +5455,10 @@ List.prototype.setItems = function(items) {
     this.remove(original[i]);
   }
 
-  this.ritems = items;
+  this.ritemsSet(items);
 
   // Try to find our old item if it still exists.
-  sel = items.indexOf(sel);
+  sel = this.ritems.indexOf(sel);
   if (~sel) {
     this.select(sel);
   } else if (items.length === original.length) {
@@ -7300,7 +7305,7 @@ Listbar.prototype.appendItem = function(item, callback) {
   cmd.element = el;
   el._.cmd = cmd;
 
-  this.ritems.push(cmd.text);
+  this.ritemSet(cmd.text);
   this.items.push(el);
   this.commands.push(cmd);
   this.append(el);
@@ -9116,6 +9121,12 @@ helpers.merge = merge;
 helpers.asort = asort;
 helpers.findFile = findFile;
 
+helpers.cleanTags = function(text) {
+  return text
+    .replace(/{(\/?)([\w\-,;!#]*)}/g, '')
+    .replace(/\x1b\[[\d;]*m/g, '');
+};
+
 /**
  * Expose
  */
diff --git a/test/widget.js b/test/widget.js
index 1c8ce5a..bd71bfd 100644
--- a/test/widget.js
+++ b/test/widget.js
@@ -114,7 +114,8 @@ list.on('keypress', function(ch, key) {
 });
 
 list.on('select', function(item, select) {
-  list.setLabel(' ' + item.getText() + ' ');
+  //list.setLabel(' ' + item.getText() + ' ');
+  list.setLabel(' ' + list.ritems[select] + ' ');
   screen.render();
 });