Expressions: Determining width of a text layer

I was wondering if anyone figured out a way to determine the width of a text layer (in AE 6.0 Pro) via expressions.

The typical layer("name").width property behaves similarly to a comp-sized solid or adjustment layer and returns comp width.

Is there any way to determine actual length of the text itself?


(for those who wonder, I read text dynamically from a separate source and then want to have a rectangle underneath it that scales depending on the length of the word)