diff --git a/include/fc/string.hpp b/include/fc/string.hpp
index 5a53cd9..5afeb9f 100644
--- a/include/fc/string.hpp
+++ b/include/fc/string.hpp
@@ -19,6 +19,7 @@ namespace fc
   typedef fc::optional<fc::string> ostring;
   class variant_object;
   fc::string format_string( const fc::string&, const variant_object& );
+  fc::string trim( const fc::string& );
 }
 
 #else
diff --git a/src/string.cpp b/src/string.cpp
index be55ca6..ce79a9c 100644
--- a/src/string.cpp
+++ b/src/string.cpp
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 #include <fc/utility.hpp>
 #include <fc/fwd_impl.hpp>
 #include <boost/lexical_cast.hpp>
+#include <boost/algorithm/string.hpp>
 
 #include <string>
 
@@ -97,7 +98,12 @@ namespace fc  {
   {
     return boost::lexical_cast<std::string>(d);
   }
-
+  std::string trim( const std::string& s )
+  {
+      std::string cpy(s);
+      boost::algorithm::trim(cpy);
+      return cpy;
+  }
 
 } // namespace fc