diff --git a/Changelog b/Changelog
index f6b5696..f031984 100644
--- a/Changelog
+++ b/Changelog
@@ -1,6 +1,10 @@
-0.9
+0.10
+	o fixed RT#101884
+	  - _trim() only removed 1st whitespace
+	  - optional checks were ineffective if the value was undef
+0.09
 	o Added AUTHOR, LICENSE and ABSTRACT fields to Makefile.PL
-	
+
 	o Fixed 'Artistic' typo in Makefile.PL
 
 	o fixed cached errors bug - if a validator object has
diff --git a/README b/README
index 7d597c3..261430a 100644
--- a/README
+++ b/README
@@ -434,7 +434,7 @@ SEE ALSO
     Data::Validate::IP common data validation methods for IP-addresses.
 
 LICENSE AND COPYRIGHT
-    Copyright (c) 2007-2014 T. v.Dein
+    Copyright (c) 2007-2015 T. v.Dein
 
     This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
     under the same terms as Perl itself.
@@ -469,5 +469,5 @@ AUTHORS
     Thanks to David Cantrell for his helpful hints.
 
 VERSION
-    0.08
+    0.10
 
diff --git a/Struct.pm b/Struct.pm
index 0f2dd13..10ef1fd 100644
--- a/Struct.pm
+++ b/Struct.pm
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 #
-# Copyright (c) 2007-2014 T. v.Dein <tlinden |AT| cpan.org>.
+# Copyright (c) 2007-2015 T. v.Dein <tlinden |AT| cpan.org>.
 # All Rights Reserved. Std. disclaimer applies.
 # Artistic License, same as perl itself. Have fun.
 #
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ use File::stat;
 use Data::Validate qw(:math is_printable);
 use Data::Validate::IP qw(is_ipv4 is_ipv6);
 
-our $VERSION = 0.09;
+our $VERSION = 0.10;
 
 use vars qw(@ISA);
 
@@ -251,6 +251,19 @@ sub _check_type {
   # the value in $hash->{$key} (shortcut)
   my $value = $hash->{$key};
 
+  # is the value checkable?
+  unless (defined $value) {
+    if (grep { $_ eq 'optional' } @types) {
+      # do nothing
+      $self->_debug("$key is optional");
+      return;
+    }
+    else {
+      # report error
+      return "value of '$key' is undef";
+    }
+  }
+
   # the aggregated match over *all* types
   my $match = 0;
   foreach my $type (@types) {
@@ -301,7 +314,7 @@ sub _check_type {
 sub _trim {
   my @a = @_;
   foreach (@a) {
-    s/^\s+|\s+$//;
+    s/^\s+|\s+$//g;
   }
   return wantarray ? @a : $a[0];
 }
@@ -846,7 +859,7 @@ L<Data::Validate::IP> common data validation methods for IP-addresses.
 
 =head1 LICENSE AND COPYRIGHT
 
-Copyright (c) 2007-2014 T. v.Dein
+Copyright (c) 2007-2015 T. v.Dein
 
 This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
 modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.
@@ -886,7 +899,7 @@ Thanks to David Cantrell for his helpful hints.
 
 =head1 VERSION
 
-0.09
+0.10
 
 =cut