diff --git a/lib/puppet/util/docs.rb b/lib/puppet/util/docs.rb
index 0c854b76c..3f0a2fba0 100644
--- a/lib/puppet/util/docs.rb
+++ b/lib/puppet/util/docs.rb
@@ -1,128 +1,128 @@
 # Some simple methods for helping manage automatic documentation generation.
 module Puppet::Util::Docs
   # Specify the actual doc string.
   def desc(str)
     @doc = str
   end
 
   # Add a new autodoc block.  We have to define these as class methods,
   # rather than just sticking them in a hash, because otherwise they're
   # too difficult to do inheritance with.
   def dochook(name, &block)
     method = "dochook_#{name}"
 
     meta_def method, &block
   end
 
   attr_writer :doc
 
   # Generate the full doc string.
   def doc
     extra = methods.find_all { |m| m.to_s =~ /^dochook_.+/ }.sort.collect { |m|
       self.send(m)
     }.delete_if {|r| r.nil? }.collect {|r| "* #{r}"}.join("\n")
 
     if @doc
       scrub(@doc) + (extra.empty? ? '' : "\n\n#{extra}")
     else
       extra
     end
   end
 
   # Build a table
   def doctable(headers, data)
     str = "\n\n"
 
     lengths = []
     # Figure out the longest field for all columns
     data.each do |name, values|
       [name, values].flatten.each_with_index do |value, i|
         lengths[i] ||= 0
         lengths[i] = value.to_s.length if value.to_s.length > lengths[i]
       end
     end
 
     # The headers could also be longest
     headers.each_with_index do |value, i|
       lengths[i] = value.to_s.length if value.to_s.length > lengths[i]
     end
 
     # Add the header names
     str += headers.zip(lengths).collect { |value, num| pad(value, num) }.join(" | ") + " |" + "\n"
 
     # And the header row
     str += lengths.collect { |num| "-" * num }.join(" | ") + " |" + "\n"
 
     # Now each data row
     data.sort { |a, b| a[0].to_s <=> b[0].to_s }.each do |name, rows|
       str += [name, rows].flatten.zip(lengths).collect do |value, length|
         pad(value, length)
       end.join(" | ") + " |" + "\n"
     end
 
     str + "\n"
   end
 
   # There is nothing that would ever set this. It gets read in reference/type.rb, but will never have any value but nil.
   attr_reader :nodoc
   def nodoc?
     nodoc
   end
 
   # Pad a field with spaces
   def pad(value, length)
     value.to_s + (" " * (length - value.to_s.length))
   end
 
   HEADER_LEVELS = [nil, "#", "##", "###", "####", "#####"]
 
   def markdown_header(name, level)
     "#{HEADER_LEVELS[level]} #{name}\n\n"
   end
 
   def markdown_definitionlist(term, definition)
     lines = scrub(definition).split("\n")
     str = "#{term}\n: #{lines.shift}\n"
     lines.each do |line|
       str << "  " if line =~ /\S/
       str << "#{line}\n"
     end
     str << "\n"
   end
 
   # Strip indentation and trailing whitespace from embedded doc fragments.
   #
   # Multi-line doc fragments are sometimes indented in order to preserve the
   # formatting of the code they're embedded in. Since indents are syntactic
   # elements in Markdown, we need to make sure we remove any indent that was
   # added solely to preserve surrounding code formatting, but LEAVE any indent
   # that delineates a Markdown element (code blocks, multi-line bulleted list
   # items). We can do this by removing the *least common indent* from each line.
   #
   # Least common indent is defined as follows:
   #
   # * Find the smallest amount of leading space on any line...
   # * ...excluding the first line (which may have zero indent without affecting
   #   the common indent)...
   # * ...and excluding lines that consist solely of whitespace.
   # * The least common indent may be a zero-length string, if the fragment is
   #   not indented to match code.
   # * If there are hard tabs for some dumb reason, we assume they're at least
   #   consistent within this doc fragment.
   #
   # See tests in spec/unit/util/docs_spec.rb for examples.
   def scrub(text)
-    # One-liners are easy!
-    return text.strip if text !~ /\n/
+    # One-liners are easy! (One-liners may be buffered with extra newlines.)
+    return text.strip if text.strip !~ /\n/
     excluding_first_line = text.partition("\n").last
     indent = excluding_first_line.scan(/^[ \t]*(?=\S)/).min || '' # prevent nil
     # Clean hanging indent, if any
     if indent.length > 0
       text = text.gsub(/^#{indent}/, '')
     end
     # Clean trailing space
     text.lines.map{|line|line.rstrip}.join("\n").rstrip
   end
 
   module_function :scrub
 end
diff --git a/spec/unit/util/docs_spec.rb b/spec/unit/util/docs_spec.rb
index eb736ff72..5823e303f 100644
--- a/spec/unit/util/docs_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/unit/util/docs_spec.rb
@@ -1,91 +1,100 @@
 require 'spec_helper'
 
 describe Puppet::Util::Docs do
 
   describe '.scrub' do
     let(:my_cleaned_output) do
       %q{This resource type uses the prescribed native tools for creating
 groups and generally uses POSIX APIs for retrieving information
 about them.  It does not directly modify `/etc/passwd` or anything.
 
 * Just for fun, we'll add a list.
 * list item two,
   which has some add'l lines included in it.
 
 And here's a code block:
 
     this is the piece of code
     it does something cool
 
 **Autorequires:** I would be listing autorequired resources here.}
     end
 
     it "strips the least common indent from multi-line strings, without mangling indentation beyond the least common indent" do
       input = <<EOT
         This resource type uses the prescribed native tools for creating
         groups and generally uses POSIX APIs for retrieving information
         about them.  It does not directly modify `/etc/passwd` or anything.
 
         * Just for fun, we'll add a list.
         * list item two,
           which has some add'l lines included in it.
 
         And here's a code block:
 
             this is the piece of code
             it does something cool
 
         **Autorequires:** I would be listing autorequired resources here.
 EOT
       output = Puppet::Util::Docs.scrub(input)
       expect(output).to eq my_cleaned_output
     end
 
     it "ignores the first line when calculating least common indent" do
       input = "This resource type uses the prescribed native tools for creating
         groups and generally uses POSIX APIs for retrieving information
         about them.  It does not directly modify `/etc/passwd` or anything.
 
         * Just for fun, we'll add a list.
         * list item two,
           which has some add'l lines included in it.
 
         And here's a code block:
 
             this is the piece of code
             it does something cool
 
         **Autorequires:** I would be listing autorequired resources here."
       output = Puppet::Util::Docs.scrub(input)
       expect(output).to eq my_cleaned_output
     end
 
     it "strips trailing whitespace from each line, and strips trailing newlines at end" do
       input = "This resource type uses the prescribed native tools for creating  \n        groups and generally uses POSIX APIs for retrieving information \n        about them.  It does not directly modify `/etc/passwd` or anything.  \n\n        * Just for fun, we'll add a list. \n        * list item two,\n          which has some add'l lines included in it.    \n\n        And here's a code block:\n\n            this is the piece of code \n            it does something cool \n\n        **Autorequires:** I would be listing autorequired resources here. \n\n"
       output = Puppet::Util::Docs.scrub(input)
       expect(output).to eq my_cleaned_output
     end
 
     it "has no side effects on original input string" do
       input       = "First line \n        second line \n        \n            indented line \n        \n        last line\n\n"
       clean_input = "First line \n        second line \n        \n            indented line \n        \n        last line\n\n"
       not_used = Puppet::Util::Docs.scrub(input)
       expect(input).to eq clean_input
     end
 
     it "does not include whitespace-only lines when calculating least common indent" do
       input           = "First line\n        second line\n  \n            indented line\n\n        last line"
       expected_output = "First line\nsecond line\n\n    indented line\n\nlast line"
       #bogus_output   = "First line\nsecond line\n\n  indented line\n\nlast line"
       output = Puppet::Util::Docs.scrub(input)
       expect(output).to eq expected_output
     end
 
     it "accepts a least common indent of zero, thus not adding errors when input string is already scrubbed" do
       expect(Puppet::Util::Docs.scrub(my_cleaned_output)).to eq my_cleaned_output
     end
 
+    it "trims leading space from one-liners (even when they're buffered with extra newlines)" do
+      input = "
+        Updates values in the `puppet.conf` configuration file.
+      "
+      expected_output = "Updates values in the `puppet.conf` configuration file."
+      output = Puppet::Util::Docs.scrub(input)
+      expect(output).to eq expected_output
+    end
+
 
   end
 end