diff --git a/preprocessor.cpp b/preprocessor.cpp
index 1d91b861a..b87030dcf 100644
--- a/preprocessor.cpp
+++ b/preprocessor.cpp
@@ -32,17 +32,14 @@ Preprocessor::Preprocessor( ErrorLogger *errorLogger )
 {
     _errorLogger = errorLogger;
 }
-
-/**
- * Extract the code for each configuration
- * \param istr The (file/string) stream to read from.
- * \param result The map that will get the results
- */
-void Preprocessor::preprocess(std::istream &istr, std::map<std::string, std::string> &result, const std::string &filename)
-{
+
+/** Just read the code into a string. Perform simple cleanup of the code */
+std::string Preprocessor::read(std::istream &istr, const std::string &filename)
+{
     // Get filedata from stream..
     bool ignoreSpace = true;
 
+    // For the error report
     int lineno = 1;
 
     std::ostringstream code;
@@ -54,8 +51,7 @@ void Preprocessor::preprocess(std::istream &istr, std::map<std::string, std::str
             std::ostringstream oss;
             oss << "[" << filename << ":" << lineno << "] Bad character found: " << int((unsigned char)ch) << std::endl;
             _errorLogger->reportErr( oss.str() );
-            result.clear();
-            return;
+            return "";
         }
 
         if ( ch == '\n' )
@@ -142,9 +138,19 @@ void Preprocessor::preprocess(std::istream &istr, std::map<std::string, std::str
         {
             code << std::string(1, ch);
         }
-    }
+    }
+    
+    return code.str();
+}
 
-    std::string codestr( code.str() );
+/**
+ * Extract the code for each configuration
+ * \param istr The (file/string) stream to read from.
+ * \param result The map that will get the results
+ */
+void Preprocessor::preprocess(std::istream &istr, std::map<std::string, std::string> &result, const std::string &filename)
+{
+    std::string codestr( read(istr, filename) );
 
     // Replace all tabs with spaces..
     std::string::size_type loc = 0;
diff --git a/preprocessor.h b/preprocessor.h
index 3c74ee499..a631c58fa 100644
--- a/preprocessor.h
+++ b/preprocessor.h
@@ -32,6 +32,10 @@ class Preprocessor
 public:
     Preprocessor( ErrorLogger *errorLogger );
     void preprocess(std::istream &istr, std::map<std::string, std::string> &result, const std::string &filename);
+    
+    /** Just read the code into a string. Perform simple cleanup of the code */
+    std::string read(std::istream &istr, const std::string &filename);
+
 private:
     /**
      * Get preprocessed code for a given configuration
diff --git a/testpreprocessor.cpp b/testpreprocessor.cpp
index 3a7e5243c..f12360770 100644
--- a/testpreprocessor.cpp
+++ b/testpreprocessor.cpp
@@ -37,10 +37,12 @@ private:
 
     void run()
     {
+        // Just read the code into a string. Perform simple cleanup of the code
+        TEST_CASE(readCode);
+
         // The bug that started the whole work with the new preprocessor
         TEST_CASE( Bug2190219 );
 
-
         TEST_CASE( test1 );
         TEST_CASE( test2 );
         TEST_CASE( test3 );
@@ -60,6 +62,18 @@ private:
 
         TEST_CASE( multiline );
     }
+
+
+    void readCode()
+    {
+        const char code[] = " \t a //\n"
+                            "  #aa\t /* remove this */\tb  \r\n";
+        Preprocessor p(NULL);
+        std::istringstream istr(code);
+        std::string codestr( p.read(istr,"") );
+        ASSERT_EQUALS( "a \n#aa b \n", codestr );
+    }
+
 
     bool cmpmaps(const std::map<std::string, std::string> &m1, const std::map<std::string, std::string> &m2)
     {