The trim() function, should of course remove whitespace surrounding a string variable. By default the value of $current_value is "XXXXX" in this display of a cell in a table rows of results extracted from a mySQL query:

<TD COLSPAN=2 VALIGN=TOP ALIGN=LEFT >
  <B>
    <TEXTAREA COLS= ".$num_cols."
	      ROWS= ".$num_rows." 
              NAME=\"".$i."_value\" 
              TABINDEX=\"".$tabindex."\">";
      echo "".trim($current_value)."
    </TEXTAREA>
  </B>
</TD>";

I am having two problems
1) There are two tabs being inserted after the character data (they were not written in the database). I don't know where they are coming from, but it seems that the trim() itself may not be working properly . . .

2) Worse, and what prompts the bug, is that on submit,  the control itself *INTERMITTENTLY* does not appear.  In some scenarios, this happens the second time through (e.g. going to another screen, canceling to return, and then going back). Specifically, the printr() display shows nothing for the control, though comparable fields  generated by iterated display of other data from same query do appear. There is no interim processing, the stuff is in the FORM and the underlying temporary tables, but not the HTTP_POST_VARS. 

Under some circumstances, this was 100% reproducible. Removing the trim statement prevented 2), but of course doesn't fix 1). . . 

Many thanks for your interest in addressing a worrisome glitch !