diff --git a/misc/translator/TmplTokenizer.pm b/misc/translator/TmplTokenizer.pm
index 1e95c54879..6b85486e4b 100644
--- a/misc/translator/TmplTokenizer.pm
+++ b/misc/translator/TmplTokenizer.pm
@@ -226,7 +226,7 @@ sub string_canon {
   my $s = shift;
   # Fold all whitespace into single blanks
   $s =~ s/\s+/ /g;
-  $s =~ s/^\s+//g;
+  $s =~ s/^\s+|\s+$//g;
   return $s;
 }