diff --git a/system/HTTP/URI.php b/system/HTTP/URI.php
index 09aa3cdc2eeb..42b36eca088b 100644
--- a/system/HTTP/URI.php
+++ b/system/HTTP/URI.php
@@ -469,23 +469,25 @@ public function getSegments(): array
 	/**
 	 * Returns the value of a specific segment of the URI path.
 	 *
-	 * @param integer $number
+	 * @param integer     $number  Segment number
+	 * @param string|null $default Default value when segment is empty (equal to '')
+	 * @param boolean     $silent  Throw an exception or not
 	 *
-	 * @return string     The value of the segment. If no segment is found,
-	 *                    throws InvalidArgumentError
+	 * @return string|null The value of the segment. If no segment is found,
+	 *                     throws InvalidArgumentError
 	 */
-	public function getSegment(int $number): string
+	public function getSegment(int $number, ?string $default = '', bool $silent = false): ?string
 	{
 		// The segment should treat the array as 1-based for the user
 		// but we still have to deal with a zero-based array.
 		$number -= 1;
 
-		if ($number > count($this->segments))
+		if (! $silent && $number > count($this->segments))
 		{
 			throw HTTPException::forURISegmentOutOfRange($number);
 		}
 
-		return $this->segments[$number] ?? '';
+		return $this->segments[$number] ?? $default;
 	}
 
 	/**
diff --git a/tests/system/HTTP/URITest.php b/tests/system/HTTP/URITest.php
index 54b58a911f63..273ff7ca0e20 100644
--- a/tests/system/HTTP/URITest.php
+++ b/tests/system/HTTP/URITest.php
@@ -65,6 +65,45 @@ public function testSegmentOutOfRange()
 
 	//--------------------------------------------------------------------
 
+	public function testSegmentOutOfRangeWithDefaultValue()
+	{
+		$this->expectException(HTTPException::class);
+		$url = 'http://abc.com/a123/b/c';
+		$uri = new URI($url);
+		$uri->getSegment(22, 'something');
+	}
+
+	//--------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+	public function testSegmentsWithDefaultValue()
+	{
+		$uri = new URI('http://hostname/path/to');
+
+		$this->assertEquals(['path', 'to'], $uri->getSegments());
+		$this->assertEquals('path', $uri->getSegment(1));
+		$this->assertEquals('to', $uri->getSegment(2, 'different'));
+		$this->assertEquals('script', $uri->getSegment(3, 'script'));
+		$this->assertEquals('', $uri->getSegment(3));
+
+		$this->assertEquals(2, $uri->getTotalSegments());
+		$this->assertEquals(['path', 'to'], $uri->getSegments());
+	}
+
+	//--------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+	public function testSegmentOutOfRangeSilent()
+	{
+		$uri = new URI('http://hostname/path/to/script');
+
+		$this->assertEquals('', $uri->getSegment(22, '', true));
+		$this->assertEquals('something', $uri->getSegment(33, 'something', true));
+
+		$this->assertEquals(3, $uri->getTotalSegments());
+		$this->assertEquals(['path', 'to', 'script'], $uri->getSegments());
+	}
+
+	//--------------------------------------------------------------------
+
 	public function testCanCastAsString()
 	{
 		$url = 'http://username:password@hostname:9090/path?arg=value#anchor';
diff --git a/user_guide_src/source/libraries/uri.rst b/user_guide_src/source/libraries/uri.rst
index 47ddd98201bb..a69054ed7166 100644
--- a/user_guide_src/source/libraries/uri.rst
+++ b/user_guide_src/source/libraries/uri.rst
@@ -234,6 +234,18 @@ what the values of the segments are. The segments start at 1 being the furthest
 		echo $request->uri->getSegment(2);
 	}
 
+By default, if we want to get a segment number that is not available, the exception ``HTTPException::forURISegmentOutOfRange``
+will be thrown. Therefore, additional parameters for the ``getSegment()`` method are available to allow more convenient work.
+These parameters allow you to return the default value for a segment, even if it's not defined. In a code example below 'foo'
+is now default value if a given segment is not available and the last parameter ``true`` prevents the exception to be thrown. 
+In some situations, you may find it very handy.
+::
+
+	// URI = http://example.com/users/15/profile
+
+	// Prints 'foo'
+	echo $request->uri->getSegment(5, 'foo', true);
+
 You can get a count of the total segments::
 
 	$total = $request->uri->getTotalSegments(); // 3