diff --git a/CHANGELOG b/CHANGELOG
index fa3a1f646..178061dc2 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG
+++ b/CHANGELOG
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 * 2.2.0 (2017-XX-XX)
 
  * added a PSR-11 compatible runtime loader
+ * added `side` argument to `trim` to allow left or right trimming only.
 
 * 2.1.0 (2017-01-11)
 
@@ -31,6 +32,7 @@
 * 1.32.0 (2017-XX-XX)
 
  * added a PSR-11 compatible runtime loader
+ * added `side` argument to `trim` to allow left or right trimming only.
 
 * 1.31.0 (2017-01-11)
 
diff --git a/doc/filters/trim.rst b/doc/filters/trim.rst
index 815895b91..860417858 100644
--- a/doc/filters/trim.rst
+++ b/doc/filters/trim.rst
@@ -14,13 +14,26 @@ and end of a string:
 
     {# outputs '  I like Twig' #}
 
+    {{ '  I like Twig.  '|trim(side='left') }}
+
+    {# outputs 'I like Twig.  ' #}
+
+    {{ '  I like Twig.  '|trim(' ', 'right') }}
+
+    {# outputs '  I like Twig.' #}
+
 .. note::
 
-    Internally, Twig uses the PHP `trim`_ function.
+    Internally, Twig uses the PHP `trim`_, `ltrim`_, and `rtrim`_ functions.
 
 Arguments
 ---------
 
 * ``character_mask``: The characters to strip
 
+* ``side``: The default is to strip from the left and the right (`both`) sides, but `left`
+  and `right` will strip from either the left side or right side only
+
 .. _`trim`: http://php.net/trim
+.. _`ltrim`: http://php.net/ltrim
+.. _`rtrim`: http://php.net/rtrim
diff --git a/lib/Twig/Extension/Core.php b/lib/Twig/Extension/Core.php
index e5ee86ce3..1df0b65e6 100644
--- a/lib/Twig/Extension/Core.php
+++ b/lib/Twig/Extension/Core.php
@@ -155,7 +155,7 @@ final class Twig_Extension_Core extends Twig_Extension
             new Twig_Filter('upper', 'twig_upper_filter', array('needs_environment' => true)),
             new Twig_Filter('lower', 'twig_lower_filter', array('needs_environment' => true)),
             new Twig_Filter('striptags', 'strip_tags'),
-            new Twig_Filter('trim', 'trim'),
+            new Twig_Filter('trim', 'twig_trim_filter'),
             new Twig_Filter('nl2br', 'nl2br', array('pre_escape' => 'html', 'is_safe' => array('html'))),
 
             // array helpers
@@ -852,6 +852,31 @@ function twig_in_filter($value, $compare)
     return false;
 }
 
+/** 
+ * Returns a trimmed string.
+ *
+ * @return string
+ *
+ * @throws Twig_Error_Runtime When an invalid trimming side is used (not a string or not 'left', 'right', or 'both')
+ */
+function twig_trim_filter($string, $characterMask = null, $side = 'both')
+{
+    if (null === $characterMask) {
+        $characterMask = " \t\n\r\0\x0B";
+    }
+
+    switch ($side) {
+        case 'both':
+            return trim($string, $characterMask);
+        case 'left':
+            return ltrim($string, $characterMask);
+        case 'right':
+            return rtrim($string, $characterMask);
+        default:
+            throw new Twig_Error_Runtime('Trimming side must be "left", "right" or "both".');
+    }
+}
+
 /**
  * Escapes a string.
  *
diff --git a/test/Twig/Tests/Fixtures/filters/trim.test b/test/Twig/Tests/Fixtures/filters/trim.test
index 319206258..ce4035b29 100644
--- a/test/Twig/Tests/Fixtures/filters/trim.test
+++ b/test/Twig/Tests/Fixtures/filters/trim.test
@@ -4,9 +4,21 @@
 {{ "  I like Twig.  "|trim }}
 {{ text|trim }}
 {{ "  foo/"|trim("/") }}
+{{ "  I like Twig.  "|trim(side="left") }}
+{{ "  I like Twig.  "|trim(side="right") }}
+{{ "  I like Twig.  "|trim(null, "right") }}
+{{ "/  foo/"|trim("/", "left") }}
+{{ "/  foo/"|trim(character_mask="/", side="left") }}
+{{ "  do nothing.  "|trim("", "right") }}
 --DATA--
 return array('text' => "  If you have some <strong>HTML</strong> it will be escaped.  ")
 --EXPECT--
 I like Twig.
 If you have some &lt;strong&gt;HTML&lt;/strong&gt; it will be escaped.
   foo
+I like Twig.  
+  I like Twig.
+  I like Twig.
+  foo/
+  foo/
+  do nothing.