diff --git a/src/Makefile.am b/src/Makefile.am
index 1ba1d12c..6470c2fb 100644
--- a/src/Makefile.am
+++ b/src/Makefile.am
@@ -143,7 +143,8 @@ conky_SOURCES = 		\
 	$(smapi)                \
 	temphelper.c            \
 	temphelper.h            \
-	text_object.h
+	text_object.h           \
+	text_object.c
 
 conky_LDFLAGS = 				\
 	$(PTHREAD_LIBS)				\
diff --git a/src/conky.c b/src/conky.c
index 0317bd88..94980da2 100644
--- a/src/conky.c
+++ b/src/conky.c
@@ -1097,98 +1097,9 @@ static void human_readable(long long num, char *buf, int size, const char *func_
 	} while (len >= (short_units ? SHORT_WIDTH : WIDTH) || len >= size);
 }
 
-/* text_object_list
- *
- * this list is special. it looks like this:
- *  NULL <-- obj1 <--> obj2 <--> ... <--> objN --> NULL
- *            ^-------root_object----------^
- *             directions are reversed here
- *
- * why this is cool:
- * - root_object points both to the start and end of the list
- * - while traversing, the end of the list is always a NULL pointer
- *   (this works in BOTH directions)
- */
+/* global object list root element */
 static struct text_object global_root_object;
 
-static int append_object(struct text_object *root, struct text_object *obj)
-{
-	struct text_object *end;
-
-	end = root->prev;
-	obj->prev = end;
-	obj->next = NULL;
-
-	if (end) {
-		if (end->next)
-			CRIT_ERR("huston, we have a lift-off");
-		end->next = obj;
-	} else {
-		root->next = obj;
-	}
-	root->prev = obj;
-	return 0;
-}
-
-/* ifblock handlers for the object list
- *
- * - each if points to it's else or endif
- * - each else points to it's endif
- */
-enum ifblock_type {
-	IFBLOCK_IF = 1,
-	IFBLOCK_ELSE,
-	IFBLOCK_ENDIF,
-};
-struct ifblock_stack_obj {
-	enum ifblock_type type;
-	struct text_object *obj;
-	struct ifblock_stack_obj *next;
-};
-static struct ifblock_stack_obj *ifblock_stack_top = NULL;
-
-static int push_ifblock(struct text_object *obj, enum ifblock_type type)
-{
-	struct ifblock_stack_obj *stackobj;
-
-	switch (type) {
-		case IFBLOCK_ENDIF:
-			if (!ifblock_stack_top)
-				CRIT_ERR("got an endif without matching if");
-			ifblock_stack_top->obj->data.ifblock.next = obj;
-			/* if there's some else in between, remove and free it */
-			if (ifblock_stack_top->type == IFBLOCK_ELSE) {
-				stackobj = ifblock_stack_top;
-				ifblock_stack_top = stackobj->next;
-				free(stackobj);
-			}
-			/* finally remove and free the if object */
-			stackobj = ifblock_stack_top;
-			ifblock_stack_top = stackobj->next;
-			free(stackobj);
-			break;
-		case IFBLOCK_ELSE:
-			if (!ifblock_stack_top)
-				CRIT_ERR("got an else without matching if");
-			ifblock_stack_top->obj->data.ifblock.next = obj;
-			/* fall through */
-		case IFBLOCK_IF:
-			stackobj = malloc(sizeof(struct ifblock_stack_obj));
-			stackobj->type = type;
-			stackobj->obj = obj;
-			stackobj->next = ifblock_stack_top;
-			ifblock_stack_top = stackobj;
-			break;
-		default:
-			CRIT_ERR("push_ifblock() missuse detected!");
-	}
-	return 0;
-}
-static int obj_be_ifblock_if(struct text_object *obj)
-{
-	return push_ifblock(obj, IFBLOCK_IF);
-}
-
 static void generate_text_internal(char *p, int p_max_size,
 	struct text_object text_object, struct information *cur);
 
@@ -2024,9 +1935,9 @@ static struct text_object *construct_text_object(const char *s,
 		obj->data.net = get_net_stat(buf);
 		free(buf);
 	END OBJ(else, 0)
-		push_ifblock(obj, IFBLOCK_ELSE);
+		obj_be_ifblock_else(obj);
 	END OBJ(endif, 0)
-		push_ifblock(obj, IFBLOCK_ENDIF);
+		obj_be_ifblock_endif(obj);
 	END OBJ(image, 0)
 		obj->data.s = strndup(arg ? arg : "", text_buffer_size);
 #ifdef HAVE_POPEN
@@ -3511,7 +3422,7 @@ static int extract_variable_text_internal(struct text_object *retval, const char
 		append_object(retval, obj);
 	}
 
-	if (ifblock_stack_top) {
+	if (!ifblock_stack_empty()) {
 		ERR("one or more $endif's are missing");
 	}
 
diff --git a/src/text_object.c b/src/text_object.c
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e473e67a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/text_object.c
@@ -0,0 +1,162 @@
+/* Conky, a system monitor, based on torsmo
+ *
+ * Any original torsmo code is licensed under the BSD license
+ *
+ * All code written since the fork of torsmo is licensed under the GPL
+ *
+ * Please see COPYING for details
+ *
+ * Copyright (c) 2004, Hannu Saransaari and Lauri Hakkarainen
+ * Copyright (c) 2005-2008 Brenden Matthews, Philip Kovacs, et. al.
+ *	(see AUTHORS)
+ * All rights reserved.
+ *
+ * This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+ * it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+ * the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+ * (at your option) any later version.
+ *
+ * This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+ * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+ * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+ * GNU General Public License for more details.
+ * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+ * along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+ *
+ */
+#include "text_object.h"
+#include "conky.h"	/* not as worse: only for the printing macros */
+
+/* text_object_list
+ *
+ * this list is special. it looks like this:
+ *  NULL <-- obj1 <--> obj2 <--> ... <--> objN --> NULL
+ *            ^-------root_object----------^
+ *             directions are reversed here
+ *
+ * why this is cool:
+ * - root_object points both to the start and end of the list
+ * - while traversing, the end of the list is always a NULL pointer
+ *   (this works in BOTH directions)
+ */
+
+/* append an object to the given root object's list */
+int append_object(struct text_object *root, struct text_object *obj)
+{
+	struct text_object *end;
+
+	end = root->prev;
+	obj->prev = end;
+	obj->next = NULL;
+
+	if (end) {
+		if (end->next)
+			CRIT_ERR("huston, we have a lift-off");
+		end->next = obj;
+	} else {
+		root->next = obj;
+	}
+	root->prev = obj;
+	return 0;
+}
+
+/* ifblock handlers for the object list
+ *
+ * - each if points to it's else or endif
+ * - each else points to it's endif
+ *
+ */
+
+/* possible ifblock types
+ * only used internally, so no need to make this public
+ */
+enum ifblock_type {
+	IFBLOCK_IF = 1,
+	IFBLOCK_ELSE,
+	IFBLOCK_ENDIF,
+};
+
+/* linked list of ifblock objects, building a stack
+ * only used internally, so no need to make this public
+ */
+struct ifblock_stack_obj {
+	enum ifblock_type type;
+	struct text_object *obj;
+	struct ifblock_stack_obj *next;
+};
+
+/* top of the internal ifblock stack
+ * initially contains only one "object", i.e. a NULL pointer
+ * indicating the end of the stack.
+ */
+static struct ifblock_stack_obj *ifblock_stack_top = NULL;
+
+/* push an ifblock object onto the stack
+ * in fact, this does a lot more:
+ * - IFBLOCK_IF is just pushed onto the stack
+ * - IFBLOCK_ELSE updates the "next" pointer of the upmost
+ *   object in the stack and is then pushed onto the stack
+ * - IFBLOCK_ENDIF updates the "next" pointer of the upmost
+ *   object in the stack and then triggers stack popping of
+ *   any optional IFBLOCK_ELSE along with it's IFBLOCK_IF
+ */
+static int push_ifblock(struct text_object *obj, enum ifblock_type type)
+{
+	struct ifblock_stack_obj *stackobj;
+
+	switch (type) {
+		case IFBLOCK_ENDIF:
+			if (!ifblock_stack_top)
+				CRIT_ERR("got an endif without matching if");
+			ifblock_stack_top->obj->data.ifblock.next = obj;
+			/* if there's some else in between, remove and free it */
+			if (ifblock_stack_top->type == IFBLOCK_ELSE) {
+				stackobj = ifblock_stack_top;
+				ifblock_stack_top = stackobj->next;
+				free(stackobj);
+			}
+			/* finally remove and free the if object */
+			stackobj = ifblock_stack_top;
+			ifblock_stack_top = stackobj->next;
+			free(stackobj);
+			break;
+		case IFBLOCK_ELSE:
+			if (!ifblock_stack_top)
+				CRIT_ERR("got an else without matching if");
+			ifblock_stack_top->obj->data.ifblock.next = obj;
+			/* fall through */
+		case IFBLOCK_IF:
+			stackobj = malloc(sizeof(struct ifblock_stack_obj));
+			stackobj->type = type;
+			stackobj->obj = obj;
+			stackobj->next = ifblock_stack_top;
+			ifblock_stack_top = stackobj;
+			break;
+		default:
+			CRIT_ERR("push_ifblock() missuse detected!");
+	}
+	return 0;
+}
+
+/* public functions for client use */
+
+int obj_be_ifblock_if(struct text_object *obj)
+{
+	return push_ifblock(obj, IFBLOCK_IF);
+}
+int obj_be_ifblock_else(struct text_object *obj)
+{
+	return push_ifblock(obj, IFBLOCK_ELSE);
+}
+int obj_be_ifblock_endif(struct text_object *obj)
+{
+	return push_ifblock(obj, IFBLOCK_ENDIF);
+}
+
+/* check if ifblock stack is empty
+ * if so, return true (!= 0)
+ */
+int ifblock_stack_empty(void)
+{
+	return ifblock_stack_top == NULL;
+}
diff --git a/src/text_object.h b/src/text_object.h
index 0e3e216b..27fa67aa 100644
--- a/src/text_object.h
+++ b/src/text_object.h
@@ -482,4 +482,13 @@ struct text_object {
 	char global_mode;
 };
 
+/* text object list helpers */
+int append_object(struct text_object *root, struct text_object *obj);
+
+/* ifblock helpers */
+int obj_be_ifblock_if(struct text_object *);
+int obj_be_ifblock_else(struct text_object *);
+int obj_be_ifblock_endif(struct text_object *);
+int ifblock_stack_empty(void);
+
 #endif /* _TEXT_OBJECT_H */