diff --git a/Doc/lib/libstring.tex b/Doc/lib/libstring.tex
index 5f71ec8..b369901 100644
--- a/Doc/lib/libstring.tex
+++ b/Doc/lib/libstring.tex
@@ -235,17 +235,28 @@
   \function{joinfields()} was only used with two arguments.)
 \end{funcdesc}
 
-\begin{funcdesc}{lstrip}{s}
-  Return a copy of \var{s} but without leading whitespace characters.
+\begin{funcdesc}{lstrip}{s\optional{, chars}}
+Return a copy of the string with leading characters removed.  If
+\var{chars} is omitted or \code{None}, whitespace characters are
+removed.  If given and not \code{None}, \var{chars} must be a string;
+the characters in the string will be stripped from the beginning of
+the string this method is called on.
 \end{funcdesc}
 
-\begin{funcdesc}{rstrip}{s}
-  Return a copy of \var{s} but without trailing whitespace
-  characters.
+\begin{funcdesc}{rstrip}{s\optional{, chars}}
+Return a copy of the string with trailing characters removed.  If
+\var{chars} is omitted or \code{None}, whitespace characters are
+removed.  If given and not \code{None}, \var{chars} must be a string;
+the characters in the string will be stripped from the end of the
+string this method is called on.
 \end{funcdesc}
 
-\begin{funcdesc}{strip}{s}
-  Return a copy of \var{s} without leading or trailing whitespace.
+\begin{funcdesc}{strip}{s\optional{, chars}}
+Return a copy of the string with leading and trailing characters
+removed.  If \var{chars} is omitted or \code{None}, whitespace
+characters are removed.  If given and not \code{None}, \var{chars}
+must be a string; the characters in the string will be stripped from
+the both ends of the string this method is called on.
 \end{funcdesc}
 
 \begin{funcdesc}{swapcase}{s}
diff --git a/Include/unicodeobject.h b/Include/unicodeobject.h
index 368a212..103649d 100644
--- a/Include/unicodeobject.h
+++ b/Include/unicodeobject.h
@@ -1040,6 +1040,13 @@
     PyObject *element		/* Element string */
     );
 
+/* Externally visible for str.strip(unicode) */
+extern DL_IMPORT(PyObject *) _PyUnicode_XStrip(
+    PyUnicodeObject *self,
+    int striptype,
+    PyObject *sepobj
+    );
+
 /* === Characters Type APIs =============================================== */
 
 /* These should not be used directly. Use the Py_UNICODE_IS* and
diff --git a/Lib/test/string_tests.py b/Lib/test/string_tests.py
index 180072c..4185b9b 100644
--- a/Lib/test/string_tests.py
+++ b/Lib/test/string_tests.py
@@ -169,12 +169,18 @@
     test('rstrip', '   hello   ', '   hello', None)
     test('strip', 'hello', 'hello', None)
 
-    # strip/lstrip/rstrip with real arg
+    # strip/lstrip/rstrip with str arg
     test('strip', 'xyzzyhelloxyzzy', 'hello', 'xyz')
     test('lstrip', 'xyzzyhelloxyzzy', 'helloxyzzy', 'xyz')
     test('rstrip', 'xyzzyhelloxyzzy', 'xyzzyhello', 'xyz')
     test('strip', 'hello', 'hello', 'xyz')
 
+    # strip/lstrip/rstrip with unicode arg
+    test('strip', 'xyzzyhelloxyzzy', u'hello', u'xyz')
+    test('lstrip', 'xyzzyhelloxyzzy', u'helloxyzzy', u'xyz')
+    test('rstrip', 'xyzzyhelloxyzzy', u'xyzzyhello', u'xyz')
+    test('strip', 'hello', u'hello', u'xyz')
+
     test('swapcase', 'HeLLo cOmpUteRs', 'hEllO CoMPuTErS')
     test('translate', 'xyzabcdef', 'xyzxyz', transtable, 'def')
 
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_unicode.py b/Lib/test/test_unicode.py
index 8e8ddf9..5d73939 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_unicode.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_unicode.py
@@ -169,6 +169,24 @@
 test('rstrip', u'   hello   ', u'   hello')
 test('strip', u'hello', u'hello')
 
+# strip/lstrip/rstrip with None arg
+test('strip', u'   hello   ', u'hello', None)
+test('lstrip', u'   hello   ', u'hello   ', None)
+test('rstrip', u'   hello   ', u'   hello', None)
+test('strip', u'hello', u'hello', None)
+
+# strip/lstrip/rstrip with unicode arg
+test('strip', u'xyzzyhelloxyzzy', u'hello', u'xyz')
+test('lstrip', u'xyzzyhelloxyzzy', u'helloxyzzy', u'xyz')
+test('rstrip', u'xyzzyhelloxyzzy', u'xyzzyhello', u'xyz')
+test('strip', u'hello', u'hello', u'xyz')
+
+# strip/lstrip/rstrip with str arg
+test('strip', u'xyzzyhelloxyzzy', u'hello', 'xyz')
+test('lstrip', u'xyzzyhelloxyzzy', u'helloxyzzy', 'xyz')
+test('rstrip', u'xyzzyhelloxyzzy', u'xyzzyhello', 'xyz')
+test('strip', u'hello', u'hello', 'xyz')
+
 test('swapcase', u'HeLLo cOmpUteRs', u'hEllO CoMPuTErS')
 
 if 0:
diff --git a/Objects/stringobject.c b/Objects/stringobject.c
index 6a0eece..d3c9e4b 100644
--- a/Objects/stringobject.c
+++ b/Objects/stringobject.c
@@ -1005,7 +1005,9 @@
 #define BOTHSTRIP 2
 
 /* Arrays indexed by above */
-static const char *stripname[] = {"lstrip", "rstrip", "strip"};
+static const char *stripformat[] = {"|O:lstrip", "|O:rstrip", "|O:strip"};
+
+#define STRIPNAME(i) (stripformat[i]+3)
 
 
 static PyObject *
@@ -1449,15 +1451,26 @@
 {
 	PyObject *sep = NULL;
 
-	if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args, "|O:[lr]strip", &sep))
+	if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args, (char *)stripformat[striptype], &sep))
 		return NULL;
 
 	if (sep != NULL && sep != Py_None) {
-		/* XXX What about Unicode? */
-		if (!PyString_Check(sep)) {
+		if (PyString_Check(sep))
+			return do_xstrip(self, striptype, sep);
+		else if (PyUnicode_Check(sep)) {
+			PyObject *uniself = PyUnicode_FromObject((PyObject *)self);
+			PyObject *res;
+			if (uniself==NULL)
+				return NULL;
+			res = _PyUnicode_XStrip((PyUnicodeObject *)uniself,
+				striptype, sep);
+			Py_DECREF(uniself);
+			return res;
+		}
+		else {
 			PyErr_Format(PyExc_TypeError,
-				     "%s arg must be None or string",
-				     stripname[striptype]);
+				     "%s arg must be None, str or unicode",
+				     STRIPNAME(striptype));
 			return NULL;
 		}
 		return do_xstrip(self, striptype, sep);
@@ -1468,11 +1481,12 @@
 
 
 static char strip__doc__[] =
-"S.strip([sep]) -> string\n\
+"S.strip([sep]) -> string or unicode\n\
 \n\
 Return a copy of the string S with leading and trailing\n\
 whitespace removed.\n\
-If sep is given and not None, remove characters in sep instead.";
+If sep is given and not None, remove characters in sep instead.\n\
+If sep is unicode, S will be converted to unicode before stripping";
 
 static PyObject *
 string_strip(PyStringObject *self, PyObject *args)
@@ -1485,10 +1499,11 @@
 
 
 static char lstrip__doc__[] =
-"S.lstrip([sep]) -> string\n\
+"S.lstrip([sep]) -> string or unicode\n\
 \n\
 Return a copy of the string S with leading whitespace removed.\n\
-If sep is given and not None, remove characters in sep instead.";
+If sep is given and not None, remove characters in sep instead.\n\
+If sep is unicode, S will be converted to unicode before stripping";
 
 static PyObject *
 string_lstrip(PyStringObject *self, PyObject *args)
@@ -1501,10 +1516,11 @@
 
 
 static char rstrip__doc__[] =
-"S.rstrip([sep]) -> string\n\
+"S.rstrip([sep]) -> string or unicode\n\
 \n\
 Return a copy of the string S with trailing whitespace removed.\n\
-If sep is given and not None, remove characters in sep instead.";
+If sep is given and not None, remove characters in sep instead.\n\
+If sep is unicode, S will be converted to unicode before stripping";
 
 static PyObject *
 string_rstrip(PyStringObject *self, PyObject *args)
diff --git a/Objects/unicodeobject.c b/Objects/unicodeobject.c
index 8dbca6d..2fe9668 100644
--- a/Objects/unicodeobject.c
+++ b/Objects/unicodeobject.c
@@ -3504,35 +3504,6 @@
 }
 
 static 
-PyObject *strip(PyUnicodeObject *self,
-		int left,
-		int right)
-{
-    Py_UNICODE *p = self->str;
-    int start = 0;
-    int end = self->length;
-
-    if (left)
-        while (start < end && Py_UNICODE_ISSPACE(p[start]))
-            start++;
-
-    if (right)
-        while (end > start && Py_UNICODE_ISSPACE(p[end-1]))
-            end--;
-
-    if (start == 0 && end == self->length && PyUnicode_CheckExact(self)) {
-        /* couldn't strip anything off, return original string */
-        Py_INCREF(self);
-        return (PyObject*) self;
-    }
-
-    return (PyObject*) PyUnicode_FromUnicode(
-        self->str + start,
-        end - start
-        );
-}
-
-static 
 PyObject *replace(PyUnicodeObject *self,
 		  PyUnicodeObject *str1,
 		  PyUnicodeObject *str2,
@@ -4464,17 +4435,173 @@
     return fixup(self, fixlower);
 }
 
-static char lstrip__doc__[] =
-"S.lstrip() -> unicode\n\
-\n\
-Return a copy of the string S with leading whitespace removed.";
+#define LEFTSTRIP 0
+#define RIGHTSTRIP 1
+#define BOTHSTRIP 2
+
+/* Arrays indexed by above */
+static const char *stripformat[] = {"|O:lstrip", "|O:rstrip", "|O:strip"};
+
+#define STRIPNAME(i) (stripformat[i]+3)
+
+static const Py_UNICODE *
+unicode_memchr(const Py_UNICODE *s, Py_UNICODE c, size_t n)
+{
+	int i;
+	for (i = 0; i<n; ++i)
+		if (s[i]==c)
+			return s+i;
+	return NULL;
+}
+
+/* externally visible for str.strip(unicode) */
+PyObject *
+_PyUnicode_XStrip(PyUnicodeObject *self, int striptype, PyObject *sepobj)
+{
+	Py_UNICODE *s = PyUnicode_AS_UNICODE(self);
+	int len = PyUnicode_GET_SIZE(self);
+	Py_UNICODE *sep = PyUnicode_AS_UNICODE(sepobj);
+	int seplen = PyUnicode_GET_SIZE(sepobj);
+	int i, j;
+
+	i = 0;
+	if (striptype != RIGHTSTRIP) {
+		while (i < len && unicode_memchr(sep, s[i], seplen)) {
+			i++;
+		}
+	}
+
+	j = len;
+	if (striptype != LEFTSTRIP) {
+		do {
+			j--;
+		} while (j >= i && unicode_memchr(sep, s[j], seplen));
+		j++;
+	}
+
+	if (i == 0 && j == len && PyUnicode_CheckExact(self)) {
+		Py_INCREF(self);
+		return (PyObject*)self;
+	}
+	else
+		return PyUnicode_FromUnicode(s+i, j-i);
+}
+
 
 static PyObject *
-unicode_lstrip(PyUnicodeObject *self)
+do_strip(PyUnicodeObject *self, int striptype)
 {
-    return strip(self, 1, 0);
+	Py_UNICODE *s = PyUnicode_AS_UNICODE(self);
+	int len = PyUnicode_GET_SIZE(self), i, j;
+
+	i = 0;
+	if (striptype != RIGHTSTRIP) {
+		while (i < len && Py_UNICODE_ISSPACE(s[i])) {
+			i++;
+		}
+	}
+
+	j = len;
+	if (striptype != LEFTSTRIP) {
+		do {
+			j--;
+		} while (j >= i && Py_UNICODE_ISSPACE(s[j]));
+		j++;
+	}
+
+	if (i == 0 && j == len && PyUnicode_CheckExact(self)) {
+		Py_INCREF(self);
+		return (PyObject*)self;
+	}
+	else
+		return PyUnicode_FromUnicode(s+i, j-i);
 }
 
+
+static PyObject *
+do_argstrip(PyUnicodeObject *self, int striptype, PyObject *args)
+{
+	PyObject *sep = NULL;
+
+	if (!PyArg_ParseTuple(args, (char *)stripformat[striptype], &sep))
+		return NULL;
+
+	if (sep != NULL && sep != Py_None) {
+		if (PyUnicode_Check(sep))
+			return _PyUnicode_XStrip(self, striptype, sep);
+		else if (PyString_Check(sep)) {
+			PyObject *res;
+			sep = PyUnicode_FromObject(sep);
+			if (sep==NULL)
+				return NULL;
+			res = _PyUnicode_XStrip(self, striptype, sep);
+			Py_DECREF(sep);
+			return res;
+		}
+		else {
+			PyErr_Format(PyExc_TypeError,
+				     "%s arg must be None, unicode or str",
+				     STRIPNAME(striptype));
+			return NULL;
+		}
+	}
+
+	return do_strip(self, striptype);
+}
+
+
+static char strip__doc__[] =
+"S.strip([sep]) -> unicode\n\
+\n\
+Return a copy of the string S with leading and trailing\n\
+whitespace removed.\n\
+If sep is given and not None, remove characters in sep instead.\n\
+If sep is a str, it will be converted to unicode before stripping";
+
+static PyObject *
+unicode_strip(PyUnicodeObject *self, PyObject *args)
+{
+	if (PyTuple_GET_SIZE(args) == 0)
+		return do_strip(self, BOTHSTRIP); /* Common case */
+	else
+		return do_argstrip(self, BOTHSTRIP, args);
+}
+
+
+static char lstrip__doc__[] =
+"S.lstrip([sep]) -> unicode\n\
+\n\
+Return a copy of the string S with leading whitespace removed.\n\
+If sep is given and not None, remove characters in sep instead.\n\
+If sep is a str, it will be converted to unicode before stripping";
+
+static PyObject *
+unicode_lstrip(PyUnicodeObject *self, PyObject *args)
+{
+	if (PyTuple_GET_SIZE(args) == 0)
+		return do_strip(self, LEFTSTRIP); /* Common case */
+	else
+		return do_argstrip(self, LEFTSTRIP, args);
+}
+
+
+static char rstrip__doc__[] =
+"S.rstrip([sep]) -> unicode\n\
+\n\
+Return a copy of the string S with trailing whitespace removed.\n\
+If sep is given and not None, remove characters in sep instead.\n\
+If sep is a str, it will be converted to unicode before stripping";
+
+static PyObject *
+unicode_rstrip(PyUnicodeObject *self, PyObject *args)
+{
+	if (PyTuple_GET_SIZE(args) == 0)
+		return do_strip(self, RIGHTSTRIP); /* Common case */
+	else
+		return do_argstrip(self, RIGHTSTRIP, args);
+}
+
+
 static PyObject*
 unicode_repeat(PyUnicodeObject *str, int len)
 {
@@ -4677,17 +4804,6 @@
     return (PyObject*) pad(self, width - self->length, 0, ' ');
 }
 
-static char rstrip__doc__[] =
-"S.rstrip() -> unicode\n\
-\n\
-Return a copy of the string S with trailing whitespace removed.";
-
-static PyObject *
-unicode_rstrip(PyUnicodeObject *self)
-{
-    return strip(self, 0, 1);
-}
-
 static PyObject*
 unicode_slice(PyUnicodeObject *self, int start, int end)
 {
@@ -4783,17 +4899,6 @@
     return PyUnicode_AsEncodedString((PyObject *)self, NULL, NULL);
 }
 
-static char strip__doc__[] =
-"S.strip() -> unicode\n\
-\n\
-Return a copy of S with leading and trailing whitespace removed.";
-
-static PyObject *
-unicode_strip(PyUnicodeObject *self)
-{
-    return strip(self, 1, 1);
-}
-
 static char swapcase__doc__[] =
 "S.swapcase() -> unicode\n\
 \n\
@@ -4966,14 +5071,14 @@
     {"index", (PyCFunction) unicode_index, METH_VARARGS, index__doc__},
     {"ljust", (PyCFunction) unicode_ljust, METH_VARARGS, ljust__doc__},
     {"lower", (PyCFunction) unicode_lower, METH_NOARGS, lower__doc__},
-    {"lstrip", (PyCFunction) unicode_lstrip, METH_NOARGS, lstrip__doc__},
+    {"lstrip", (PyCFunction) unicode_lstrip, METH_VARARGS, lstrip__doc__},
 /*  {"maketrans", (PyCFunction) unicode_maketrans, METH_VARARGS, maketrans__doc__}, */
     {"rfind", (PyCFunction) unicode_rfind, METH_VARARGS, rfind__doc__},
     {"rindex", (PyCFunction) unicode_rindex, METH_VARARGS, rindex__doc__},
     {"rjust", (PyCFunction) unicode_rjust, METH_VARARGS, rjust__doc__},
-    {"rstrip", (PyCFunction) unicode_rstrip, METH_NOARGS, rstrip__doc__},
+    {"rstrip", (PyCFunction) unicode_rstrip, METH_VARARGS, rstrip__doc__},
     {"splitlines", (PyCFunction) unicode_splitlines, METH_VARARGS, splitlines__doc__},
-    {"strip", (PyCFunction) unicode_strip, METH_NOARGS, strip__doc__},
+    {"strip", (PyCFunction) unicode_strip, METH_VARARGS, strip__doc__},
     {"swapcase", (PyCFunction) unicode_swapcase, METH_NOARGS, swapcase__doc__},
     {"translate", (PyCFunction) unicode_translate, METH_O, translate__doc__},
     {"upper", (PyCFunction) unicode_upper, METH_NOARGS, upper__doc__},