diff --git a/src/tools.rs b/src/tools.rs
index 4bfc35c8..44db796d 100644
--- a/src/tools.rs
+++ b/src/tools.rs
@@ -647,3 +647,14 @@ pub fn setup_safe_path_env() {
         std::env::remove_var(name);
     }
 }
+
+pub fn strip_ascii_whitespace(line: &[u8]) -> &[u8] {
+    let line = match line.iter().position(|&b| !b.is_ascii_whitespace()) {
+        Some(n) => &line[n..],
+        None => return &[],
+    };
+    match line.iter().rev().position(|&b| !b.is_ascii_whitespace()) {
+        Some(n) => &line[..(line.len() - n)],
+        None => &[],
+    }
+}