diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index cbf3e37..201c75a 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
-Similar to [dwm-flexipatch](https://github.com/bakkeby/dwm-flexipatch) this dmenu 5.1 (33685b0,
-2022-03-28) project has a different take on patching. It uses preprocessor directives to decide
+Similar to [dwm-flexipatch](https://github.com/bakkeby/dwm-flexipatch) this dmenu 5.1 (28fb3e2,
+2022-05-01) project has a different take on patching. It uses preprocessor directives to decide
 whether or not to include a patch during build time. Essentially this means that this build, for
 better or worse, contains both the patched _and_ the original code. The aim being that you can
 select which patches to include and the build will contain that code and nothing more.
@@ -28,6 +28,8 @@ Browsing patches? There is a [map of patches](https://coggle.it/diagram/YjT2DD6j
 
 ### Changelog:
 
+2022-06-21 - Adding relative input width patch
+
 2022-03-02 - Bump to 5.1
 
 2021-05-23 - Adding support for `ctrl+v` to paste and adding emoji-highlight patch
@@ -203,6 +205,14 @@ Browsing patches? There is a [map of patches](https://coggle.it/diagram/YjT2DD6j
       - adds a new flag to dmenu with which text input will be rejected if it would result in no
         matching item
 
+   - relative_input_width
+      - prior to commit [e1e1de7](https://git.suckless.org/dmenu/commit/e1e1de7b3b8399cba90ddca9613f837b2dbef7b9.html)
+        the input width was calculated based on the input options
+      - this feature was removed in favour of hardcoding the input width to always take up 1/3rd of
+        the available space
+      - this patch adds that feature back in with some bespoke performance optimisations at the cost
+        of accuracy and correctness
+
    - [restrict-return](https://tools.suckless.org/dmenu/patches/restrict-return/)
       - adds a `-1` option which disables Shift-Return and Ctrl-Return
       - this guarantees that dmenu will only output one item, and that item was read from stdin
diff --git a/dmenu.c b/dmenu.c
index 06525c9..64c0459 100644
--- a/dmenu.c
+++ b/dmenu.c
@@ -1501,13 +1501,17 @@ static void
 setup(void)
 {
 	int x, y, i, j;
-	unsigned int du, tmp;
+	unsigned int du;
+	#if RELATIVE_INPUT_WIDTH_PATCH
+	unsigned int tmp, minstrlen = 0, curstrlen = 0;
+	int numwidthchecks = 100;
+	struct item *item;
+	#endif // RELATIVE_INPUT_WIDTH_PATCH
 	XSetWindowAttributes swa;
 	XIM xim;
 	Window w, dw, *dws;
 	XWindowAttributes wa;
 	XClassHint ch = {"dmenu", "dmenu"};
-	struct item *item;
 #ifdef XINERAMA
 	XineramaScreenInfo *info;
 	Window pw;
@@ -1644,12 +1648,22 @@ setup(void)
 	promptw = (prompt && *prompt) ? TEXTW(prompt) - lrpad / 4 : 0;
 	#endif // PANGO_PATCH
 	#endif // CENTER_PATCH
-	for (item = items; item && item->text; ++item) {
-		if ((tmp = textw_clamp(item->text, mw/3)) > inputw) {
-			if ((inputw = tmp) == mw/3)
-				break;
+	#if RELATIVE_INPUT_WIDTH_PATCH
+	for (item = items; !lines && item && item->text; ++item) {
+		curstrlen = strlen(item->text);
+		if (numwidthchecks || minstrlen < curstrlen) {
+			numwidthchecks = MAX(numwidthchecks - 1, 0);
+			minstrlen = MAX(minstrlen, curstrlen);
+			if ((tmp = textw_clamp(item->text, mw/3)) > inputw) {
+				inputw = tmp;
+				if (tmp == mw/3)
+					break;
+			}
 		}
 	}
+	#else
+	inputw = mw / 3; /* input width: ~33.33% of monitor width */
+	#endif // RELATIVE_INPUT_WIDTH_PATCH
 	match();
 
 	/* create menu window */
diff --git a/patches.def.h b/patches.def.h
index cc9cf74..7863f55 100644
--- a/patches.def.h
+++ b/patches.def.h
@@ -273,6 +273,17 @@
  */
 #define REJECTNOMATCH_PATCH 0
 
+/* The input width used to be relative to the input options prior to commit e1e1de7:
+ * https://git.suckless.org/dmenu/commit/e1e1de7b3b8399cba90ddca9613f837b2dbef7b9.html
+ *
+ * This had a performance hit when using large data sets and was removed in favour of having the
+ * input width take up 1/3rd of the available space.
+ *
+ * This option adds that feature back in with some performance optimisations at the cost of
+ * accuracy and correctness.
+ */
+#define RELATIVE_INPUT_WIDTH_PATCH 0
+
 /* This patch adds a '-1' option which disables Shift-Return and Ctrl-Return.
  * This guarantees that dmenu will only output one item, and that item was read from stdin.
  * The original patch used '-r'. This was changed to '-1' to avoid conflict with the incremental