diff --git a/src/EditProfileDialog.h b/EditProfileDialog.h
--- a/src/EditProfileDialog.h
+++ b/EditProfileDialog.h
@@ -161,6 +161,7 @@
     void toggleDropUrlsAsText(bool);
     void toggleCopyTextToClipboard(bool);
     void toggleTrimTrailingSpacesInSelectedText(bool);
+    void toggleTrimLeadingSpacesInSelectedText(bool);
     void pasteFromX11Selection();
     void pasteFromClipboard();
 
diff --git a/src/EditProfileDialog.cpp b/EditProfileDialog.cpp
--- a/src/EditProfileDialog.cpp
+++ b/EditProfileDialog.cpp
@@ -1160,6 +1160,10 @@
             _ui->trimTrailingSpacesButton, Profile::TrimTrailingSpacesInSelectedText,
             SLOT(toggleTrimTrailingSpacesInSelectedText(bool))
         },
+        {
+            _ui->trimLeadingSpacesButton, Profile::TrimLeadingSpacesInSelectedText,
+            SLOT(toggleTrimLeadingSpacesInSelectedText(bool))
+        },
         {
             _ui->openLinksByDirectClickButton, Profile::OpenLinksByDirectClickEnabled,
             SLOT(toggleOpenLinksByDirectClick(bool))
@@ -1356,6 +1360,11 @@
     updateTempProfileProperty(Profile::TrimTrailingSpacesInSelectedText, enable);
 }
 
+void EditProfileDialog::toggleTrimLeadingSpacesInSelectedText(bool enable)
+{
+    updateTempProfileProperty(Profile::TrimLeadingSpacesInSelectedText, enable);
+}
+
 void EditProfileDialog::pasteFromX11Selection()
 {
     updateTempProfileProperty(Profile::MiddleClickPasteMode, Enum::PasteFromX11Selection);
diff --git a/src/EditProfileDialog.ui b/EditProfileDialog.ui
--- a/src/EditProfileDialog.ui
+++ b/EditProfileDialog.ui
@@ -935,6 +935,16 @@
             </property>
            </widget>
           </item>
+          <item>
+           <widget class="QCheckBox" name="trimLeadingSpacesButton">
+            <property name="toolTip">
+             <string>Trim leading spaces in selected text, useful in some instances</string>
+            </property>
+            <property name="text">
+             <string>Trim leading spaces</string>
+            </property>
+           </widget>
+          </item>
           <item>
            <spacer name="horizontalSpacer_5">
             <property name="orientation">
diff --git a/src/Emulation.cpp b/Emulation.cpp
--- a/src/Emulation.cpp
+++ b/Emulation.cpp
@@ -100,7 +100,7 @@
 
 void Emulation::checkSelectedText()
 {
-    QString text = _currentScreen->selectedText(true);
+    QString text = _currentScreen->selectedText(true, false, false, false);
     emit selectionChanged(text);
 }
 
diff --git a/src/Filter.cpp b/Filter.cpp
--- a/src/Filter.cpp
+++ b/Filter.cpp
@@ -143,6 +143,7 @@
 
     PlainTextDecoder decoder;
     decoder.setTrailingWhitespace(false);
+    decoder.setLeadingWhitespace(false);
 
     // setup new shared buffers for the filters to process on
     auto newBuffer = new QString();
diff --git a/src/Profile.h b/Profile.h
--- a/src/Profile.h
+++ b/Profile.h
@@ -207,6 +207,8 @@
         AutoCopySelectedText,
         /** (bool) If true, trailing spaces are trimmed in selected text */
         TrimTrailingSpacesInSelectedText,
+        /** (bool) If true, leading spaces are trimmed in selected text */
+        TrimLeadingSpacesInSelectedText,
         /** (bool) If true, then dropped URLs will be pasted as text without asking */
         DropUrlsAsText,
         /** (bool) If true, middle mouse button pastes from X Selection */
diff --git a/src/Profile.cpp b/Profile.cpp
--- a/src/Profile.cpp
+++ b/Profile.cpp
@@ -115,6 +115,7 @@
     , { DropUrlsAsText , "DropUrlsAsText" , INTERACTION_GROUP , QVariant::Bool }
     , { AutoCopySelectedText , "AutoCopySelectedText" , INTERACTION_GROUP , QVariant::Bool }
     , { TrimTrailingSpacesInSelectedText , "TrimTrailingSpacesInSelectedText" , INTERACTION_GROUP , QVariant::Bool }
+    , { TrimLeadingSpacesInSelectedText , "TrimLeadingSpacesInSelectedText" , INTERACTION_GROUP , QVariant::Bool }
     , { PasteFromSelectionEnabled , "PasteFromSelectionEnabled" , INTERACTION_GROUP , QVariant::Bool }
     , { PasteFromClipboardEnabled , "PasteFromClipboardEnabled" , INTERACTION_GROUP , QVariant::Bool }
     , { MiddleClickPasteMode, "MiddleClickPasteMode" , INTERACTION_GROUP , QVariant::Int }
@@ -188,6 +189,7 @@
     setProperty(CtrlRequiredForDrag, true);
     setProperty(AutoCopySelectedText, false);
     setProperty(TrimTrailingSpacesInSelectedText, false);
+    setProperty(TrimLeadingSpacesInSelectedText, false);
     setProperty(DropUrlsAsText, false);
     setProperty(PasteFromSelectionEnabled, true);
     setProperty(PasteFromClipboardEnabled, false);
diff --git a/src/Screen.h b/Screen.h
--- a/src/Screen.h
+++ b/Screen.h
@@ -443,10 +443,13 @@
      * be inserted into the returned text at the end of each terminal line.
      * @param trimTrailingSpaces Specifies whether trailing spaces should be
      * trimmed in the returned text.
+     * @param trimLeadingSpaces Specifies whether leading spaces should be
+     * trimmed in the returned text.
      * @param html Specifies if returned text should have HTML tags.
      */
-    QString selectedText(bool preserveLineBreaks, bool trimTrailingSpaces = false,
-                         bool html = false) const;
+    QString selectedText(bool preserveLineBreaks,
+                         bool trimTrailingSpaces, bool trimLeadingSpaces,
+                         bool html) const;
 
     /**
      * Convenience method.  Returns the text between two indices.
@@ -456,10 +459,13 @@
      * be inserted into the returned text at the end of each terminal line.
      * @param trimTrailingSpaces Specifies whether trailing spaces should be
      * trimmed in the returned text.
+     * @param trimLeadingSpaces Specifies whether leading spaces should be
+     * trimmed in the returned text.
      * @param html Specifies if returned text should have HTML tags.
      */
     QString text(int startIndex, int endIndex, bool preserveLineBreaks,
-                 bool trimTrailingSpaces = false, bool html = false) const;
+                 bool trimTrailingSpaces, bool trimLeadingSpaces,
+                 bool html) const;
 
     /**
      * Copies part of the output to a stream.
@@ -481,9 +487,12 @@
      * be inserted into the returned text at the end of each terminal line.
      * @param trimTrailingSpaces Specifies whether trailing spaces should be
      * trimmed in the returned text.
+     * @param trimLeadingSpaces Specifies whether leading spaces should be
+     * trimmed in the returned text.
      */
     void writeSelectionToStream(TerminalCharacterDecoder *decoder, bool
-                                preserveLineBreaks = true, bool trimTrailingSpaces = false) const;
+                                preserveLineBreaks,
+                                bool trimTrailingSpaces, bool trimLeadingSpaces) const;
 
     /**
      * Checks if the text between from and to is inside the current
@@ -602,7 +611,7 @@
     //appendNewLine - if true a new line character (\n) is appended to the end of the line
     int  copyLineToStream(int line, int start, int count, TerminalCharacterDecoder *decoder,
                           bool appendNewLine, bool preserveLineBreaks,
-                          bool trimTrailingSpaces) const;
+                          bool trimTrailingSpaces, bool trimLeadingSpaces) const;
 
     //fills a section of the screen image with the character 'c'
     //the parameters are specified as offsets from the start of the screen image.
@@ -634,7 +643,7 @@
     // copies text from 'startIndex' to 'endIndex' to a stream
     // startIndex and endIndex are positions generated using the loc(x,y) macro
     void writeToStream(TerminalCharacterDecoder *decoder, int startIndex, int endIndex,
-                       bool preserveLineBreaks = true, bool trimTrailingSpaces = false) const;
+                       bool preserveLineBreaks, bool trimTrailingSpaces, bool trimLeadingSpaces) const;
     // copies 'count' lines from the screen buffer into 'dest',
     // starting from 'startLine', where 0 is the first line in the screen buffer
     void copyFromScreen(Character *dest, int startLine, int count) const;
diff --git a/src/Screen.cpp b/Screen.cpp
--- a/src/Screen.cpp
+++ b/Screen.cpp
@@ -1087,15 +1087,15 @@
     return pos >= _selTopLeft && pos <= _selBottomRight && columnInSelection;
 }
 
-QString Screen::selectedText(bool preserveLineBreaks, bool trimTrailingSpaces, bool html) const
+QString Screen::selectedText(bool preserveLineBreaks, bool trimTrailingSpaces, bool trimLeadingSpaces, bool html) const
 {
     if (!isSelectionValid())
         return QString();
 
-    return text(_selTopLeft, _selBottomRight, preserveLineBreaks, trimTrailingSpaces, html);
+    return text(_selTopLeft, _selBottomRight, preserveLineBreaks, trimTrailingSpaces, trimLeadingSpaces, html);
 }
 
-QString Screen::text(int startIndex, int endIndex, bool preserveLineBreaks, bool trimTrailingSpaces, bool html) const
+QString Screen::text(int startIndex, int endIndex, bool preserveLineBreaks, bool trimTrailingSpaces, bool trimLeadingSpaces, bool html) const
 {
     QString result;
     QTextStream stream(&result, QIODevice::ReadWrite);
@@ -1114,7 +1114,7 @@
     }
 
     decoder->begin(&stream);
-    writeToStream(decoder, startIndex, endIndex, preserveLineBreaks, trimTrailingSpaces);
+    writeToStream(decoder, startIndex, endIndex, preserveLineBreaks, trimTrailingSpaces, trimLeadingSpaces);
     decoder->end();
 
     return result;
@@ -1127,17 +1127,17 @@
 
 void Screen::writeSelectionToStream(TerminalCharacterDecoder* decoder ,
                                     bool preserveLineBreaks,
-                                    bool trimTrailingSpaces) const
+                                    bool trimTrailingSpaces, bool trimLeadingSpaces) const
 {
     if (!isSelectionValid())
         return;
-    writeToStream(decoder, _selTopLeft, _selBottomRight, preserveLineBreaks, trimTrailingSpaces);
+    writeToStream(decoder, _selTopLeft, _selBottomRight, preserveLineBreaks, trimTrailingSpaces, trimLeadingSpaces);
 }
 
 void Screen::writeToStream(TerminalCharacterDecoder* decoder,
                            int startIndex, int endIndex,
                            bool preserveLineBreaks,
-                           bool trimTrailingSpaces) const
+                           bool trimTrailingSpaces, bool trimLeadingSpaces) const
 {
     const int top = startIndex / _columns;
     const int left = startIndex % _columns;
@@ -1161,7 +1161,8 @@
                                       decoder,
                                       appendNewLine,
                                       preserveLineBreaks,
-                                      trimTrailingSpaces);
+                                      trimTrailingSpaces,
+                                      trimLeadingSpaces);
 
         // if the selection goes beyond the end of the last line then
         // append a new line character.
@@ -1183,7 +1184,8 @@
                              TerminalCharacterDecoder* decoder,
                              bool appendNewLine,
                              bool preserveLineBreaks,
-                             bool trimTrailingSpaces) const
+                             bool trimTrailingSpaces,
+                             bool trimLeadingSpaces) const
 {
     //buffer to hold characters for decoding
     //the buffer is static to avoid initializing every
@@ -1275,6 +1277,25 @@
         }
     }
 
+    if (trimLeadingSpaces) {
+        int spacesCount = 0;
+        for (spacesCount = 0; spacesCount < count; spacesCount++) {
+            if (!QChar(characterBuffer[spacesCount].character).isSpace()) {
+                break;
+            }
+        }
+
+        if (spacesCount >= count) {
+            return 0;
+        }
+
+        for (int i=0; i < count - spacesCount; i++) {
+            characterBuffer[i] = characterBuffer[i + spacesCount];
+        }
+
+        count -= spacesCount;
+    }
+
     //decode line and write to text stream
     decoder->decodeLine((Character*) characterBuffer ,
                         count, currentLineProperties);
@@ -1284,7 +1305,7 @@
 
 void Screen::writeLinesToStream(TerminalCharacterDecoder* decoder, int fromLine, int toLine) const
 {
-    writeToStream(decoder, loc(0, fromLine), loc(_columns - 1, toLine));
+    writeToStream(decoder, loc(0, fromLine), loc(_columns - 1, toLine), true, false, false);
 }
 
 void Screen::addHistLine()
diff --git a/src/ScreenWindow.h b/ScreenWindow.h
--- a/src/ScreenWindow.h
+++ b/ScreenWindow.h
@@ -229,10 +229,12 @@
      *
      * @param preserveLineBreaks See Screen::selectedText()
      * @param trimTrailingSpaces See Screen::selectedText()
+     * @param trimLeadingSpaces See Screen::selectedText()
      * @param html Specifies if returned text should have HTML tags.
      */
-    QString selectedText(bool preserveLineBreaks, bool trimTrailingSpaces = false,
-                         bool html = false) const;
+    QString selectedText(bool preserveLineBreaks,
+                         bool trimTrailingSpaces, bool trimLeadingSpaces,
+                         bool html) const;
 
 public Q_SLOTS:
     /**
diff --git a/src/ScreenWindow.cpp b/ScreenWindow.cpp
--- a/src/ScreenWindow.cpp
+++ b/ScreenWindow.cpp
@@ -125,10 +125,11 @@
     return result;
 }
 
-QString ScreenWindow::selectedText(bool preserveLineBreaks, bool trimTrailingSpaces,
+QString ScreenWindow::selectedText(bool preserveLineBreaks,
+                                   bool trimTrailingSpaces, bool trimLeadingSpaces,
                                    bool html) const
 {
-    return _screen->selectedText(preserveLineBreaks, trimTrailingSpaces, html);
+    return _screen->selectedText(preserveLineBreaks, trimTrailingSpaces, trimLeadingSpaces, html);
 }
 
 void ScreenWindow::getSelectionStart(int &column, int &line)
diff --git a/src/SessionController.cpp b/SessionController.cpp
--- a/src/SessionController.cpp
+++ b/SessionController.cpp
@@ -1148,7 +1148,7 @@
 
 void SessionController::searchBarEvent()
 {
-    QString selectedText = _view->screenWindow()->selectedText(true, true);
+    QString selectedText = _view->screenWindow()->selectedText(true, true, true, false);
     if (!selectedText.isEmpty())
         _searchBar->setSearchText(selectedText);
 
diff --git a/src/TerminalCharacterDecoder.h b/TerminalCharacterDecoder.h
--- a/src/TerminalCharacterDecoder.h
+++ b/TerminalCharacterDecoder.h
@@ -85,6 +85,17 @@
      * in the output.
      */
     bool trailingWhitespace() const;
+    /**
+     * Set whether leading whitespace at the end of lines should be included
+     * in the output.
+     * Defaults to true.
+     */
+    void setLeadingWhitespace(bool enable);
+    /**
+     * Returns whether leading whitespace at the end of lines is included
+     * in the output.
+     */
+    bool leadingWhitespace() const;
     /**
      * Returns of character positions in the output stream
      * at which new lines where added.  Returns an empty if setTrackLinePositions() is false or if
@@ -103,6 +114,7 @@
 private:
     QTextStream *_output;
     bool _includeTrailingWhitespace;
+    bool _includeLeadingWhitespace;
 
     bool _recordLinePositions;
     QList<int> _linePositions;
diff --git a/src/TerminalCharacterDecoder.cpp b/TerminalCharacterDecoder.cpp
--- a/src/TerminalCharacterDecoder.cpp
+++ b/TerminalCharacterDecoder.cpp
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@
 PlainTextDecoder::PlainTextDecoder()
     : _output(nullptr)
     , _includeTrailingWhitespace(true)
+    , _includeLeadingWhitespace(true)
     , _recordLinePositions(false)
 {
 }
@@ -45,6 +46,14 @@
 {
     return _includeTrailingWhitespace;
 }
+void PlainTextDecoder::setLeadingWhitespace(bool enable)
+{
+    _includeLeadingWhitespace = enable;
+}
+bool PlainTextDecoder::leadingWhitespace() const
+{
+    return _includeLeadingWhitespace;
+}
 void PlainTextDecoder::begin(QTextStream* output)
 {
     _output = output;
@@ -82,12 +91,26 @@
     QString plainText;
     plainText.reserve(count);
 
-    int outputCount = count;
+    // If we should remove leading whitespace find the first non-space character
+    int start = 0;
+    if (!_includeLeadingWhitespace) {
+        for (start = 0; start < count; start++) {
+            if (!characters[start].isSpace()) {
+                break;
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    int outputCount = count - start;
+
+    if (outputCount <= 0) {
+        return;
+    }
 
     // if inclusion of trailing whitespace is disabled then find the end of the
     // line
     if (!_includeTrailingWhitespace) {
-        for (int i = count - 1 ; i >= 0 ; i--) {
+        for (int i = count - 1 ; i >= start ; i--) {
             if (!characters[i].isSpace())
                 break;
             else
@@ -97,7 +120,7 @@
 
     // find out the last technically real character in the line
     int realCharacterGuard = -1;
-    for (int i = count - 1 ; i >= 0 ; i--) {
+    for (int i = count - 1 ; i >= start ; i--) {
         // FIXME: the special case of '\n' here is really ugly
         // Maybe the '\n' should be added after calling this method in
         // Screen::copyLineToStream()
@@ -107,7 +130,7 @@
         }
     }
 
-    for (int i = 0; i < outputCount;) {
+    for (int i = start; i < outputCount;) {
         if ((characters[i].rendition & RE_EXTENDED_CHAR) != 0) {
             ushort extendedCharLength = 0;
             const ushort* chars = ExtendedCharTable::instance.lookupExtendedChar(characters[i].character, extendedCharLength);
diff --git a/src/TerminalDisplay.h b/TerminalDisplay.h
--- a/src/TerminalDisplay.h
+++ b/TerminalDisplay.h
@@ -223,6 +223,22 @@
         return _trimTrailingSpaces;
     }
 
+    /**
+     * Sets whether leading spaces should be trimmed in selected text.
+     */
+    void setTrimLeadingSpaces(bool enabled)
+    {
+        _trimLeadingSpaces = enabled;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Returns true if leading spaces should be trimmed in selected text.
+     */
+    bool trimLeadingSpaces() const
+    {
+        return _trimLeadingSpaces;
+    }
+
     void setLineSpacing(uint);
     uint lineSpacing() const;
 
@@ -971,6 +987,7 @@
     SessionController *_sessionController;
 
     bool _trimTrailingSpaces;   // trim trailing spaces in selected text
+    bool _trimLeadingSpaces;   // trim leading spaces in selected text
     bool _mouseWheelZoom;   // enable mouse wheel zooming or not
 
     int _margin;      // the contents margin
diff --git a/src/TerminalDisplay.cpp b/TerminalDisplay.cpp
--- a/src/TerminalDisplay.cpp
+++ b/TerminalDisplay.cpp
@@ -378,6 +378,7 @@
     , _printerFriendly(false)
     , _sessionController(nullptr)
     , _trimTrailingSpaces(false)
+    , _trimLeadingSpaces(false)
     , _margin(1)
     , _centerContents(false)
     , _opacity(1.0)
@@ -2893,10 +2894,10 @@
     if (_screenWindow == nullptr)
         return;
 
-    QString text = _screenWindow->selectedText(_preserveLineBreaks, _trimTrailingSpaces);
+    QString text = _screenWindow->selectedText(_preserveLineBreaks, _trimTrailingSpaces, _trimLeadingSpaces, false);
     if (text.isEmpty())
         return;
-    QString html = _screenWindow->selectedText(_preserveLineBreaks, _trimTrailingSpaces, true);
+    QString html = _screenWindow->selectedText(_preserveLineBreaks, _trimTrailingSpaces, _trimLeadingSpaces, true);
 
     auto mimeData = new QMimeData;
     mimeData->setText(text);
@@ -2915,10 +2916,10 @@
     if (_screenWindow == nullptr)
         return;
 
-    QString text = _screenWindow->selectedText(_preserveLineBreaks, _trimTrailingSpaces);
+    QString text = _screenWindow->selectedText(_preserveLineBreaks, _trimTrailingSpaces, _trimLeadingSpaces, false);
     if (text.isEmpty())
         return;
-    QString html = _screenWindow->selectedText(_preserveLineBreaks, _trimTrailingSpaces, true);
+    QString html = _screenWindow->selectedText(_preserveLineBreaks, _trimTrailingSpaces, _trimLeadingSpaces, true);
 
     auto mimeData = new QMimeData;
     mimeData->setText(text);
diff --git a/src/TerminalDisplayAccessible.cpp b/TerminalDisplayAccessible.cpp
--- a/src/TerminalDisplayAccessible.cpp
+++ b/TerminalDisplayAccessible.cpp
@@ -99,7 +99,7 @@
     }
 
     return display->screenWindow()->screen()->text(0, display->_usedColumns * display->_usedLines,
-                                                   true);
+                                                   true, false, false, false);
 }
 
 void TerminalDisplayAccessible::addSelection(int startOffset, int endOffset)
@@ -186,7 +186,7 @@
         return QString();
     }
 
-    return display()->screenWindow()->screen()->text(startOffset, endOffset, true);
+    return display()->screenWindow()->screen()->text(startOffset, endOffset, true, false, false, false);
 }
 
 TerminalDisplay *TerminalDisplayAccessible::display() const
diff --git a/src/ViewManager.cpp b/ViewManager.cpp
--- a/src/ViewManager.cpp
+++ b/ViewManager.cpp
@@ -909,6 +909,7 @@
     view->setBidiEnabled(profile->bidiRenderingEnabled());
     view->setLineSpacing(profile->lineSpacing());
     view->setTrimTrailingSpaces(profile->property<bool>(Profile::TrimTrailingSpacesInSelectedText));
+    view->setTrimLeadingSpaces(profile->property<bool>(Profile::TrimLeadingSpacesInSelectedText));
 
     view->setOpenLinksByDirectClick(profile->property<bool>(Profile::OpenLinksByDirectClickEnabled));