diff --git a/minimatch.js b/minimatch.js
index b0e2e814..fda45ade 100644
--- a/minimatch.js
+++ b/minimatch.js
@@ -134,6 +134,8 @@ function Minimatch (pattern, options) {
 
   if (!options) options = {}
 
+  pattern = pattern.trim()
+
   // windows support: need to use /, not \
   if (!options.allowWindowsEscape && path.sep !== '/') {
     pattern = pattern.split(path.sep).join('/')
diff --git a/test/basic.js b/test/basic.js
index 5efa68f0..66608180 100644
--- a/test/basic.js
+++ b/test/basic.js
@@ -117,13 +117,13 @@ t.test('whitespace handling', t => {
   t.equal(mm('x/y', 'y'), false)
   t.equal(mm('x/y', 'y', { matchBase: true }), true)
   t.equal(mm('x/ ', ' '), false)
-  t.equal(mm('x/ ', ' ', { matchBase: true }), true)
+  t.equal(mm('x/ ', ' ', { matchBase: true }), false)
   t.equal(mm('x/', ''), false)
   t.equal(mm('x/', '', { matchBase: true }), false)
   t.equal(mm('', ''), true)
   t.equal(mm(' ', ''), false)
-  t.equal(mm('', ' '), false)
-  t.equal(mm(' ', ' '), true)
+  t.equal(mm('', ' '), true)
+  t.equal(mm(' ', ' '), false)
   t.end()
 })
 
@@ -165,6 +165,11 @@ t.test('flipNegate', t => {
   t.end()
 })
 
+t.test('pattern should be trimmed', t => {
+  t.equal(mm('x', ' x '), true)
+  t.end()
+})
+
 function alpha (a, b) {
   return a > b ? 1 : -1
 }