Extra whitespace when decrypting data with mcrypt

Folks: I have some code that encrypts data using a relatively long (164 characters) alphanumeric key. The code for encrypt is: $encrypted = mcrypt_cbc( MCRYPT_TripleDES, $secret_key, trim($data), MCRYPT_ENCRYPT); and the decrypt code is: $decrypted = mcrypt_cbc( MCRYPT_TripleDES, $secret_key, $data, MCRYPT_DECRYPT); The encrypted valus is stored in a mysql database with 'addslashes' on store and 'stripslashes' on retrieval. When I decrypt the data, I'm getting extra whitespace characters at the end of it. I don't get this when I test it stand-alone, but on my production server it seems to be happening regularly. I've stopped it with trim(), but is this a known weirdness ? I'm running PHP4.0.3pl1 and mcrypt 2.2.x on FreeBSD 4.1.1. Any thoughts appreciated as this is causing me some concern with respect to the encryption/decryption process not being that robust. tia ..Iain -- Join Nortel Networks at CeBIT 2001 on Stand F13, Hall 17, March 22-28, 2001 in Hannover, Germany. And find out how Nortel Networks is building the high-performance Internet. Visit www.nortelnetworks.com/cebit for all the information you need.