diff --git a/Parsedown.php b/Parsedown.php
index 1e2840d..520cb77 100755
--- a/Parsedown.php
+++ b/Parsedown.php
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ class Parsedown
 		# ~
 
 		$text = preg_replace('/\n\s*\n/', "\n\n", $text);
-		$text = trim($text, "\n ");
+		$text = trim($text, "\n");
 
 		$lines = explode("\n", $text);
 
@@ -210,10 +210,15 @@ class Parsedown
 				goto paragraph;
 			}
 
-			# Code
+			# Code Block
 
 			if ($line[0] === ' ' and preg_match('/^[ ]{4}(.*)/', $line, $matches))
 			{
+				if (trim($line) === '')
+				{
+					continue;
+				}
+
 				if ($element['type'] === 'code')
 				{
 					if (isset($element['interrupted']))
@@ -279,6 +284,11 @@ class Parsedown
 
 			$pure_line = $line[0] !== ' ' ? $line : ltrim($line);
 
+			if ($pure_line === '')
+			{
+				continue;
+			}
+
 			# Link Reference
 
 			if ($pure_line[0] === '[' and preg_match('/^\[(.+?)\]:[ ]*([^ ]+)/', $pure_line, $matches))
diff --git a/tests/data/whitespace.html b/tests/data/whitespace.html
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bc5cd2a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/data/whitespace.html
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+<pre><code>This text starts with a line that consists of 4 spaces and it ends with one. This is a code block to make sure that leading spaces don't get trimmed.</code></pre>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/tests/data/whitespace.md b/tests/data/whitespace.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5f53a54
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/data/whitespace.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+    
+
+    This text starts with a line that consists of 4 spaces and it ends with one. This is a code block to make sure that leading spaces don't get trimmed.
+
+    
\ No newline at end of file