diff --git a/modules/io/src/mol/star_parser.hh b/modules/io/src/mol/star_parser.hh
index 382356627b6f97851a3d4feaf7bc8752a92ae2c8..6e62f6bfa1fdeb25a39c25f32dfc893b5143a51a 100644
--- a/modules/io/src/mol/star_parser.hh
+++ b/modules/io/src/mol/star_parser.hh
@@ -156,6 +156,12 @@ public:
   {
     filename_ = filename;
   }
+
+  /// \brief retrieve the line, the parser is currently working on
+  int GetCurrentLinenum()
+  {
+    return line_num_;
+  }
 public:
   void Parse();