diff --git a/helix-term/src/commands.rs b/helix-term/src/commands.rs
index 3840fc71f..d1c8fdee8 100644
--- a/helix-term/src/commands.rs
+++ b/helix-term/src/commands.rs
@@ -2679,13 +2679,21 @@ fn local_search(cx: &mut Context) {
 
     let columns = [
         PickerColumn::new("path", |item: &FileResult, config: &LocalSearchConfig| {
-            Cell::from(Spans::from(
-                // only show line numbers in the left picker column
-                vec![Span::styled(
-                    (item.line_num + 1).to_string(),
-                    config.number_style,
-                )],
-            ))
+            let line_num = (item.line_num + 1).to_string();
+            // files can never contain more than 999_999_999_999 lines
+            // thus using maximum line length to be 12 for this formatter is valid
+            let max_line_num_length = 12;
+            // whitespace padding to align results after the line number
+            let padding_length = max_line_num_length - line_num.len();
+            let padding = " ".repeat(padding_length);
+            // extract line content from the editor
+            let line_content = "<insert line content here>";
+            // create column value to be displayed in the picker
+            Cell::from(Spans::from(vec![
+                Span::styled(line_num, config.number_style),
+                Span::raw(padding),
+                Span::raw(line_content),
+            ]))
         }),
         PickerColumn::hidden("contents"),
     ];