diff --git a/src/uu/ptx/src/ptx.rs b/src/uu/ptx/src/ptx.rs
index 111d74d39..a0fe9a5e8 100644
--- a/src/uu/ptx/src/ptx.rs
+++ b/src/uu/ptx/src/ptx.rs
@@ -224,7 +224,7 @@ fn get_config(matches: &clap::ArgMatches) -> UResult<Config> {
     }
     config.auto_ref = matches.get_flag(options::AUTO_REFERENCE);
     config.input_ref = matches.get_flag(options::REFERENCES);
-    config.right_ref &= matches.get_flag(options::RIGHT_SIDE_REFS);
+    config.right_ref = matches.get_flag(options::RIGHT_SIDE_REFS);
     config.ignore_case = matches.get_flag(options::IGNORE_CASE);
     if matches.contains_id(options::MACRO_NAME) {
         config.macro_name = matches
@@ -661,7 +661,7 @@ fn prepare_line_chunks(
 }
 
 fn write_traditional_output(
-    config: &Config,
+    config: &mut Config,
     file_map: &FileMap,
     words: &BTreeSet<WordRef>,
     output_filename: &OsStr,
@@ -677,6 +677,15 @@ fn write_traditional_output(
 
     let context_reg = Regex::new(&config.context_regex).unwrap();
 
+    if !config.right_ref {
+        let max_ref_len = if config.auto_ref {
+            get_auto_max_reference_len(words)
+        } else {
+            0
+        };
+        config.line_width -= max_ref_len;
+    }
+
     for word_ref in words {
         let file_map_value: &FileContent = file_map
             .get(&word_ref.filename)
@@ -722,6 +731,31 @@ fn write_traditional_output(
     Ok(())
 }
 
+fn get_auto_max_reference_len(words: &BTreeSet<WordRef>) -> usize {
+    //Get the maximum length of the reference field
+    let line_num = words
+        .iter()
+        .map(|w| {
+            if w.local_line_nr == 0 {
+                1
+            } else {
+                (w.local_line_nr as f64).log10() as usize + 1
+            }
+        })
+        .max()
+        .unwrap_or(0);
+
+    let filename_len = words
+        .iter()
+        .filter(|w| w.filename != "-")
+        .map(|w| w.filename.maybe_quote().to_string().len())
+        .max()
+        .unwrap_or(0);
+
+    // +1 for the colon
+    line_num + filename_len + 1
+}
+
 mod options {
     pub mod format {
         pub static ROFF: &str = "roff";
@@ -749,7 +783,7 @@ mod options {
 #[uucore::main]
 pub fn uumain(args: impl uucore::Args) -> UResult<()> {
     let matches = uucore::clap_localization::handle_clap_result(uu_app(), args)?;
-    let config = get_config(&matches)?;
+    let mut config = get_config(&matches)?;
 
     let input_files;
     let output_file: OsString;
@@ -783,7 +817,7 @@ pub fn uumain(args: impl uucore::Args) -> UResult<()> {
     let word_filter = WordFilter::new(&matches, &config)?;
     let file_map = read_input(&input_files).map_err_context(String::new)?;
     let word_set = create_word_set(&config, &word_filter, &file_map);
-    write_traditional_output(&config, &file_map, &word_set, &output_file)
+    write_traditional_output(&mut config, &file_map, &word_set, &output_file)
 }
 
 pub fn uu_app() -> Command {
diff --git a/tests/by-util/test_ptx.rs b/tests/by-util/test_ptx.rs
index 917cd047a..3ff36a1c6 100644
--- a/tests/by-util/test_ptx.rs
+++ b/tests/by-util/test_ptx.rs
@@ -57,6 +57,30 @@ fn test_truncation_no_extra_space_in_after() {
         .stdout_contains(".xx \"\" \"Rust\" \"is/\" \"\"");
 }
 
+#[test]
+fn gnu_ext_disabled_reference_calculation() {
+    let input = "Hello World Rust is good language";
+    let expected_output = concat!(
+        r#".xx "language" "" "Hello World Rust is good" "" ":1""#,
+        "\n",
+        r#".xx "" "Hello World" "Rust is good language" "" ":1""#,
+        "\n",
+        r#".xx "" "Hello" "World Rust is good language" "" ":1""#,
+        "\n",
+        r#".xx "" "Hello World Rust is" "good language" "" ":1""#,
+        "\n",
+        r#".xx "" "Hello World Rust" "is good language" "" ":1""#,
+        "\n",
+        r#".xx "" "Hello World Rust is good" "language" "" ":1""#,
+        "\n",
+    );
+    new_ucmd!()
+        .args(&["-G", "-A"])
+        .pipe_in(input)
+        .succeeds()
+        .stdout_only(expected_output);
+}
+
 #[test]
 fn gnu_ext_disabled_rightward_no_ref() {
     new_ucmd!()