diff --git a/lib/moodlelib.php b/lib/moodlelib.php
index 1e9bdf4f180..8a9960d5356 100644
--- a/lib/moodlelib.php
+++ b/lib/moodlelib.php
@@ -182,6 +182,11 @@ define('PARAM_PERMISSION',   'permission');
  */
 define('PARAM_RAW', 'raw');
 
+/**
+ * PARAM_RAW_TRIMMED like PARAM_RAW but leading and trailing whitespace is stripped.
+ */
+define('PARAM_RAW_TRIMMED', 'raw_trimmed');
+
 /**
  * PARAM_SAFEDIR - safe directory name, suitable for include() and require()
  */
@@ -553,6 +558,9 @@ function clean_param($param, $type) {
         case PARAM_RAW:          // no cleaning at all
             return $param;
 
+        case PARAM_RAW_TRIMMED:         // no cleaning, but strip leading and trailing whitespace.
+            return trim($param);
+
         case PARAM_CLEAN:        // General HTML cleaning, try to use more specific type if possible
             // this is deprecated!, please use more specific type instead
             if (is_numeric($param)) {
diff --git a/lib/simpletest/testmoodlelib.php b/lib/simpletest/testmoodlelib.php
index c6615382e4f..2f8ca704b1c 100644
--- a/lib/simpletest/testmoodlelib.php
+++ b/lib/simpletest/testmoodlelib.php
@@ -313,6 +313,10 @@ class moodlelib_test extends UnitTestCase {
             '#()*#,9789\'".,<42897></?$(*DSFMO#$*)(SDJ)($*)');
     }
 
+    function test_clean_param_trim() {
+        $this->assertEqual(clean_param("   Frog toad   \r\n  ", PARAM_RAW_TRIMMED), 'Frog toad');
+    }
+
     function test_clean_param_clean() {
         // PARAM_CLEAN is an ugly hack, do not use in new code (skodak)
         // instead use more specific type, or submit sothing that can be verified properly