diff --git a/src/bam/mod.rs b/src/bam/mod.rs
index 4e5d68bd9..9b9d3aa02 100644
--- a/src/bam/mod.rs
+++ b/src/bam/mod.rs
@@ -1933,6 +1933,67 @@ CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC"[..],
         assert_eq!(rec.qname(), b"r0");
     }
 
+    #[test]
+    fn test_set_cigar() {
+        let (names, _, seqs, quals, cigars) = gold();
+
+        assert!(names[0] != names[1]);
+
+        for i in 0..names.len() {
+            let mut rec = record::Record::new();
+            rec.set(names[i], Some(&cigars[i]), seqs[i], quals[i]);
+            rec.push_aux(b"NM", Aux::I32(15)).unwrap();
+
+            assert_eq!(rec.qname(), names[i]);
+            assert_eq!(*rec.cigar(), cigars[i]);
+            assert_eq!(rec.seq().as_bytes(), seqs[i]);
+            assert_eq!(rec.qual(), quals[i]);
+            assert_eq!(rec.aux(b"NM").unwrap(), Aux::I32(15));
+
+            // boring cigar
+            let new_cigar = CigarString(vec![Cigar::Match(rec.seq_len() as u32)]);
+            assert_ne!(*rec.cigar(), new_cigar);
+            rec.set_cigar(Some(&new_cigar));
+            assert_eq!(*rec.cigar(), new_cigar);
+
+            assert_eq!(rec.qname(), names[i]);
+            assert_eq!(rec.seq().as_bytes(), seqs[i]);
+            assert_eq!(rec.qual(), quals[i]);
+            assert_eq!(rec.aux(b"NM").unwrap(), Aux::I32(15));
+
+            // bizarre cigar
+            let new_cigar = (0..rec.seq_len())
+                .map(|i| {
+                    if i % 2 == 0 {
+                        Cigar::Match(1)
+                    } else {
+                        Cigar::Ins(1)
+                    }
+                })
+                .collect::<Vec<_>>();
+            let new_cigar = CigarString(new_cigar);
+            assert_ne!(*rec.cigar(), new_cigar);
+            rec.set_cigar(Some(&new_cigar));
+            assert_eq!(*rec.cigar(), new_cigar);
+
+            assert_eq!(rec.qname(), names[i]);
+            assert_eq!(rec.seq().as_bytes(), seqs[i]);
+            assert_eq!(rec.qual(), quals[i]);
+            assert_eq!(rec.aux(b"NM").unwrap(), Aux::I32(15));
+
+            // empty cigar
+            let new_cigar = CigarString(Vec::new());
+            assert_ne!(*rec.cigar(), new_cigar);
+            rec.set_cigar(None);
+            assert_eq!(*rec.cigar(), new_cigar);
+
+            assert_eq!(rec.qname(), names[i]);
+            assert_eq!(rec.seq().as_bytes(), seqs[i]);
+            assert_eq!(rec.qual(), quals[i]);
+            assert_eq!(rec.aux(b"NM").unwrap(), Aux::I32(15));
+        }
+    }
+
     #[test]
     fn test_remove_aux() {
         let mut bam = Reader::from_path(Path::new("test/test.bam")).expect("Error opening file.");
diff --git a/src/bam/record.rs b/src/bam/record.rs
index 0751dcf45..f63e87797 100644
--- a/src/bam/record.rs
+++ b/src/bam/record.rs
@@ -473,6 +473,62 @@ impl Record {
         self.inner_mut().core.l_extranul = extranul as u8;
     }
 
+    /// Replace current cigar with a new one.
+    pub fn set_cigar(&mut self, new_cigar: Option<&CigarString>) {
+        self.cigar = None;
+
+        let qname_data_len = self.qname_capacity();
+        let old_cigar_data_len = self.cigar_len() * 4;
+
+        // Length of data after cigar
+        let other_data_len = self.inner_mut().l_data - (qname_data_len + old_cigar_data_len) as i32;
+
+        let new_cigar_len = match new_cigar {
+            Some(x) => x.len(),
+            None => 0,
+        };
+        let new_cigar_data_len = new_cigar_len * 4;
+
+        if new_cigar_data_len < old_cigar_data_len {
+            self.inner_mut().l_data -= (old_cigar_data_len - new_cigar_data_len) as i32;
+        } else if new_cigar_data_len > old_cigar_data_len {
+            self.inner_mut().l_data += (new_cigar_data_len - old_cigar_data_len) as i32;
+
+            // Reallocate if necessary
+            if (self.inner().m_data as i32) < self.inner().l_data {
+                // Verbosity due to lexical borrowing
+                let l_data = self.inner().l_data;
+                self.realloc_var_data(l_data as usize);
+            }
+        }
+
+        if new_cigar_data_len != old_cigar_data_len {
+            // Move other data to new location
+            unsafe {
+                ::libc::memmove(
+                    self.inner.data.add(qname_data_len + new_cigar_data_len) as *mut ::libc::c_void,
+                    self.inner.data.add(qname_data_len + old_cigar_data_len) as *mut ::libc::c_void,
+                    other_data_len as usize,
+                );
+            }
+        }
+
+        // Copy cigar data
+        if let Some(cigar_string) = new_cigar {
+            let cigar_data = unsafe {
+                #[allow(clippy::cast_ptr_alignment)]
+                slice::from_raw_parts_mut(
+                    self.inner.data.add(qname_data_len) as *mut u32,
+                    cigar_string.len(),
+                )
+            };
+            for (i, c) in cigar_string.iter().enumerate() {
+                cigar_data[i] = c.encode();
+            }
+        }
+        self.inner_mut().core.n_cigar = new_cigar_len as u32;
+    }
+
     fn realloc_var_data(&mut self, new_len: usize) {
         // pad request
         let new_len = new_len as u32;
diff --git a/src/lib.rs b/src/lib.rs
index 36b9995bf..3f8c1b1d7 100644
--- a/src/lib.rs
+++ b/src/lib.rs
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@
 //! ```
 //!
 //! We can reproduce that with Rust-Htslib. Reading BAM files and printing the header
-//! to the the screen is as easy as
+//! to the screen is as easy as
 //!
 //! ```
 //! use rust_htslib::{bam, bam::Read};