diff --git a/modules/juce_gui_basics/widgets/juce_TextEditor.cpp b/modules/juce_gui_basics/widgets/juce_TextEditor.cpp
index 4dbd362495..9c10ee2947 100644
--- a/modules/juce_gui_basics/widgets/juce_TextEditor.cpp
+++ b/modules/juce_gui_basics/widgets/juce_TextEditor.cpp
@@ -67,10 +67,10 @@ struct TextAtom
 class TextEditor::UniformTextSection
 {
 public:
-    UniformTextSection (const String& text, const Font& f, Colour col, juce_wchar passwordChar)
-        : font (f), colour (col)
+    UniformTextSection (const String& text, const Font& f, Colour col, juce_wchar passwordCharToUse)
+        : font (f), colour (col), passwordChar (passwordCharToUse)
     {
-        initialiseAtoms (text, passwordChar);
+        initialiseAtoms (text);
     }
 
     UniformTextSection (const UniformTextSection&) = default;
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ public:
 
     UniformTextSection& operator= (const UniformTextSection&) = delete;
 
-    void append (UniformTextSection& other, const juce_wchar passwordChar)
+    void append (UniformTextSection& other)
     {
         if (! other.atoms.isEmpty())
         {
@@ -112,9 +112,9 @@ public:
         }
     }
 
-    UniformTextSection* split (int indexToBreakAt, juce_wchar passwordChar)
+    UniformTextSection* split (int indexToBreakAt)
     {
-        auto* section2 = new UniformTextSection (String(), font, colour, passwordChar);
+        auto* section2 = new UniformTextSection ({}, font, colour, passwordChar);
         int index = 0;
 
         for (int i = 0; i < atoms.size(); ++i)
@@ -196,11 +196,12 @@ public:
         return total;
     }
 
-    void setFont (const Font& newFont, const juce_wchar passwordChar)
+    void setFont (const Font& newFont, const juce_wchar passwordCharToUse)
     {
-        if (font != newFont)
+        if (font != newFont || passwordChar != passwordCharToUse)
         {
             font = newFont;
+            passwordChar = passwordCharToUse;
 
             for (auto& atom : atoms)
                 atom.width = newFont.getStringWidthFloat (atom.getText (passwordChar));
@@ -211,9 +212,10 @@ public:
     Font font;
     Colour colour;
     Array<TextAtom> atoms;
+    juce_wchar passwordChar;
 
 private:
-    void initialiseAtoms (const String& textToParse, const juce_wchar passwordChar)
+    void initialiseAtoms (const String& textToParse)
     {
         auto text = textToParse.getCharPointer();
 
@@ -2511,7 +2513,7 @@ void TextEditor::splitSection (const int sectionIndex, const int charToSplitAt)
     jassert (sections[sectionIndex] != nullptr);
 
     sections.insert (sectionIndex + 1,
-                     sections.getUnchecked (sectionIndex)->split (charToSplitAt, passwordCharacter));
+                     sections.getUnchecked (sectionIndex)->split (charToSplitAt));
 }
 
 void TextEditor::coalesceSimilarSections()
@@ -2524,7 +2526,7 @@ void TextEditor::coalesceSimilarSections()
         if (s1->font == s2->font
              && s1->colour == s2->colour)
         {
-            s1->append (*s2, passwordCharacter);
+            s1->append (*s2);
             sections.remove (i + 1);
             --i;
         }