diff --git a/QSim.cpp b/QSim.cpp
index 1bdc5d6..26405a9 100644
--- a/QSim.cpp
+++ b/QSim.cpp
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ std::vector<std::string> explode(std::string const &s, char delim)
 
 	for (std::string token; std::getline(iss, token, delim);)
 	{
-		result.push_back(std::move(token));
+		result.push_back(std::move(trim(token)));
 	}
 
 	return result;
@@ -237,6 +237,7 @@ int read_cmd_line(char *filename)
 	while (fin)
 	{
 		getline(fin, line);
+		line = trim(line);
 		if (line[0] == '#' || line.empty())
 		{
 			++line_no;
diff --git a/utils/include/util.h b/utils/include/util.h
index 45ede2c..ed4c8e3 100644
--- a/utils/include/util.h
+++ b/utils/include/util.h
@@ -8,6 +8,9 @@
 #ifndef UTILS_UTIL_H_
 #define UTILS_UTIL_H_
 
+#include <iostream>
+#include <algorithm>
+
 // LOG LEVELS
 #define LOG_LEVEL_VERBOSE 0
 #define LOG_LEVEL_INFO 1
@@ -19,5 +22,6 @@ extern int LOG_LEVEL;
 
 extern void printdebug(unsigned short int, const char *);
 extern char getLevel(unsigned short int);
+extern std::string trim(const std::string &);
 
 #endif /* UTILS_UTIL_H_ */
diff --git a/utils/util.cpp b/utils/util.cpp
index 848dd57..6097203 100644
--- a/utils/util.cpp
+++ b/utils/util.cpp
@@ -6,7 +6,6 @@
  */
 
 #include <util.h>
-#include <iostream>
 
 char getLevel(unsigned short int level)
 {
@@ -47,3 +46,20 @@ void printdebug(unsigned short int level, const char *message)
 	std::cout << type << ": " << message << "\n";
 	// TODO add debugging options
 }
+
+
+std::string trim(const std::string &s)
+{
+	auto start = s.begin();
+	while (start != s.end() && std::isspace(*start)) {
+		start++;
+	}
+
+	auto end = s.end();
+	do {
+		end--;
+	} while (std::distance(start, end) > 0 && std::isspace(*end));
+
+	return std::string(start, end + 1);
+}
+
diff --git a/web/main.html b/web/main.html
index f1f5d9a..e8b1eb9 100644
--- a/web/main.html
+++ b/web/main.html
@@ -238,6 +238,7 @@
         <div class="p-5">
           <textarea name="code" id="m_code" class="form-control c1" rows="20" placeholder="Code Here"># SAMPLE PROGRAMFOR COIN FLIP ALGORITHM
 # CHANGE THIS CODE
+
 QREG 1
 H 0
 MEASURE</textarea>