diff --git a/plugin/src/main/java/de/ids_mannheim/korap/plkexport/Snippet.java b/plugin/src/main/java/de/ids_mannheim/korap/plkexport/Snippet.java
index e941f81..6750948 100644
--- a/plugin/src/main/java/de/ids_mannheim/korap/plkexport/Snippet.java
+++ b/plugin/src/main/java/de/ids_mannheim/korap/plkexport/Snippet.java
@@ -14,11 +14,11 @@
         String splitright = split[2];
         //(?i) makes the regex case insensitive.
         String splitleftr = splitleft.replaceAll("(?i)</?span[^>]*>", "");
-        this.setLeft(splitleftr);
+        this.setLeft(splitleftr.trim());
         String splitmatchr = splitmatch.replaceAll("(?i)</?span[^>]*>", "");
-        this.setMark(splitmatchr);
+        this.setMark(splitmatchr.trim());
         String splitrightr = splitright.replaceAll("(?i)</?span[^>]*>", "");
-        this.setRight(splitrightr);
+        this.setRight(splitrightr.trim());
     }
 
 
diff --git a/plugin/src/test/java/de/ids_mannheim/korap/plkexport/SnippetTest.java b/plugin/src/test/java/de/ids_mannheim/korap/plkexport/SnippetTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d8d7e18
--- /dev/null
+++ b/plugin/src/test/java/de/ids_mannheim/korap/plkexport/SnippetTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+package de.ids_mannheim.korap.plkexport;
+
+import java.io.IOException;
+
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertNull;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertTrue;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertFalse;
+import static org.junit.Assert.fail;
+import org.junit.Test;
+
+import de.ids_mannheim.korap.plkexport.Snippet;
+
+public class SnippetTest {
+
+    @Test
+    public void testSimple () {
+        Snippet s = new Snippet("<span class=\"context-left\">Der </span><span class=\"match\"><mark>Plagegeist</mark></span><span class=\"context-right\"> ging um</span>");
+        assertEquals(s.getLeft(),"Der");
+        assertEquals(s.getRight(),"ging um");
+        assertEquals(s.getMark(),"Plagegeist");
+    };
+};