diff --git a/src/template_type.cpp b/src/template_type.cpp
index a7310da..05f5232 100644
--- a/src/template_type.cpp
+++ b/src/template_type.cpp
@@ -18,6 +18,8 @@ void template_type::process_text(citer begin, citer end) {
     }
 }
 
+#include <iostream>
+
 void template_type::tokenize(const std::string& tmp) {
   std::string open{"{{"}, close{"}}"};
   citer beg = tmp.begin();
@@ -41,8 +43,12 @@ void template_type::tokenize(const std::string& tmp) {
       if (*(beg + open_pos + open.size()) == '=' &&
           *(beg + close_pos - 1) == '=')
       {
-        open = {beg + open_pos + open.size() + 1, beg + tmp.find(' ',open_pos)};
-        close = {beg + tmp.find(' ', open_pos) + 1, beg + close_pos - 1};
+        auto tok_beg = beg + open_pos + open.size() + 1;
+        auto tok_end = beg + close_pos - 1;
+        auto front_skip = first_not_ws(tok_beg, tok_end);
+        auto back_skip = first_not_ws(reverse(tok_end), reverse(tok_beg));
+        open = {front_skip, beg + tmp.find(' ', front_skip - beg)};
+        close = {beg + tmp.rfind(' ', back_skip - beg) + 1, back_skip + 1};
       }
     } else {
       process_text(beg + cur_pos, tmp.end());
diff --git a/src/utils.cpp b/src/utils.cpp
index 4c480e8..032f89a 100644
--- a/src/utils.cpp
+++ b/src/utils.cpp
@@ -12,6 +12,10 @@ mstch::citer mstch::first_not_ws(mstch::criter begin, mstch::criter end) {
   return --(end.base());
 }
 
+mstch::criter mstch::reverse(mstch::citer it) {
+  return std::reverse_iterator<mstch::citer>(it);
+}
+
 std::string mstch::html_escape(const std::string& str) {
   std::string out;
   citer start = str.begin();
diff --git a/src/utils.hpp b/src/utils.hpp
index 9b05da8..9041a3e 100644
--- a/src/utils.hpp
+++ b/src/utils.hpp
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ using criter = std::string::const_reverse_iterator;
 citer first_not_ws(citer begin, citer end);
 citer first_not_ws(criter begin, criter end);
 std::string html_escape(const std::string& str);
+criter reverse(citer it);
 
 template<class... Args>
 auto visit(Args&&... args) -> decltype(boost::apply_visitor(