diff --git a/lib/util.C b/lib/util.C
index 0a7d176a85..33d162b5dc 100755
--- a/lib/util.C
+++ b/lib/util.C
@@ -248,6 +248,18 @@ void c2x(char *what) {
     strcpy(what, buf);
 }
 
+void strip_whitespace(char *str) {
+    int read_pos, write_pos;
+    read_pos = write_pos = 0;
+    while(str[read_pos] != 0) {
+        if (!isspace(str[read_pos])) {
+            str[write_pos] = str[read_pos];
+            write_pos++;
+        }
+        read_pos++;
+    }
+}
+
 void unescape_url(char *url) {
     register int x,y;
     
diff --git a/lib/util.h b/lib/util.h
index e5b4bbbe5e..3b6c65e5d5 100755
--- a/lib/util.h
+++ b/lib/util.h
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ extern int parse_command_line( char *, char ** );
 extern int lock_file(char*);
 extern double drand();
 extern void c2x(char *what);
+extern void strip_whitespace(char *str);
 extern void unescape_url(char *url);
 extern void escape_url(char *in, char*out);
 extern void safe_strncpy(char*, char*, int);