diff --git a/gdb/language.c b/gdb/language.c
index 034086d..abfed40 100644
--- a/gdb/language.c
+++ b/gdb/language.c
@@ -981,6 +981,17 @@ language_bool_type (const struct language_defn *la,
   return ld->arch_info[la->la_language].bool_type_default;
 }
 
+/* Return 1 if C is a whitespace character, 0 otherwise.  */
+
+static int
+whitespace_p (const char c)
+{
+  if (c == ' ' || c == '\n' || c == '\t')
+    return 1;
+  else
+    return 0;
+}
+
 struct type *
 language_lookup_primitive_type_by_name (const struct language_defn *la,
 					struct gdbarch *gdbarch,
@@ -989,14 +1000,44 @@ language_lookup_primitive_type_by_name (const struct language_defn *la,
   struct language_gdbarch *ld = gdbarch_data (gdbarch,
 					      language_gdbarch_data);
   struct type *const *p;
+  int len = strlen (name);
+  int i, j;
+  char *clean_name = (char *) xmalloc (sizeof (char) * len + 1);
+
+  /* Remove unwanted whitespace in the typename.  This could happen, for
+     example, happen if one does gdb.lookup_type(' unsigned long ') in
+     Python.  */
+  for (i = 0, j = 0; i < len; i++)
+    {
+      if (whitespace_p (name[i]))
+	{
+	  if (j == 0 || clean_name[j - 1] == ' ')
+	    continue;
+	}
+
+      if (whitespace_p (name[i]))
+	clean_name[j] = ' ';
+      else
+	clean_name[j] = name[i];
+
+      j++;
+    }
+  if (j > 0 && clean_name[j - 1] == ' ')
+    j--;
+  clean_name[j] = '\0';
 
   for (p = ld->arch_info[la->la_language].primitive_type_vector;
        (*p) != NULL;
        p++)
     {
-      if (strcmp (TYPE_NAME (*p), name) == 0)
-	return (*p);
+      if (strcmp (TYPE_NAME (*p), clean_name) == 0)
+	{
+	  xfree (clean_name);
+	  return (*p);
+	}
     }
+  xfree (clean_name);
+
   return (NULL);
 }
 
diff --git a/gdb/testsuite/gdb.python/py-type.exp b/gdb/testsuite/gdb.python/py-type.exp
index 6b61f48..c9388ed 100644
--- a/gdb/testsuite/gdb.python/py-type.exp
+++ b/gdb/testsuite/gdb.python/py-type.exp
@@ -264,3 +264,15 @@ with_test_prefix "lang_cpp" {
     test_template
     test_enums
 }
+
+# Tests to lookup builtin types
+gdb_test "python print gdb.lookup_type ('unsigned int')" "unsigned int" \
+    "lookup unsigned int"
+gdb_test "python print gdb.lookup_type (' unsigned long ')" "unsigned long" \
+    "lookup unsigned long"
+gdb_test "python print gdb.lookup_type (' unsigned  char ')" "unsigned char" \
+    "lookup unsigned char"
+gdb_test "python print gdb.lookup_type (' unsigned\\n char ')" "unsigned char" \
+    "lookup unsigned char"
+gdb_test "python print gdb.lookup_type (' unsigned\\tlong ')" "unsigned long" \
+    "lookup unsigned long"