diff --git a/phpBB/includes/request/request.php b/phpBB/includes/request/request.php
index 747ca09624..c6b6610af5 100644
--- a/phpBB/includes/request/request.php
+++ b/phpBB/includes/request/request.php
@@ -200,46 +200,7 @@ class phpbb_request implements phpbb_request_interface
 	*/
 	public function variable($var_name, $default, $multibyte = false, $super_global = phpbb_request_interface::REQUEST)
 	{
-		$path = false;
-
-		// deep direct access to multi dimensional arrays
-		if (is_array($var_name))
-		{
-			$path = $var_name;
-			// make sure at least the variable name is specified
-			if (empty($path))
-			{
-				return (is_array($default)) ? array() : $default;
-			}
-			// the variable name is the first element on the path
-			$var_name = array_shift($path);
-		}
-
-		if (!isset($this->input[$super_global][$var_name]))
-		{
-			return (is_array($default)) ? array() : $default;
-		}
-		$var = $this->input[$super_global][$var_name];
-
-		if ($path)
-		{
-			// walk through the array structure and find the element we are looking for
-			foreach ($path as $key)
-			{
-				if (is_array($var) && isset($var[$key]))
-				{
-					$var = $var[$key];
-				}
-				else
-				{
-					return (is_array($default)) ? array() : $default;
-				}
-			}
-		}
-
-		$this->type_cast_helper->recursive_set_var($var, $default, $multibyte);
-
-		return $var;
+		return $this->_variable($var_name, $default, $multibyte, $super_global, true);
 	}
 
 	/**
@@ -263,46 +224,7 @@ class phpbb_request implements phpbb_request_interface
 	*/
 	public function untrimed_variable($var_name, $default, $multibyte, $super_global = phpbb_request_interface::REQUEST)
 	{
-		$path = false;
-
-		// deep direct access to multi dimensional arrays
-		if (is_array($var_name))
-		{
-			$path = $var_name;
-			// make sure at least the variable name is specified
-			if (empty($path))
-			{
-				return (is_array($default)) ? array() : $default;
-			}
-			// the variable name is the first element on the path
-			$var_name = array_shift($path);
-		}
-
-		if (!isset($this->input[$super_global][$var_name]))
-		{
-			return (is_array($default)) ? array() : $default;
-		}
-		$var = $this->input[$super_global][$var_name];
-
-		if ($path)
-		{
-			// walk through the array structure and find the element we are looking for
-			foreach ($path as $key)
-			{
-				if (is_array($var) && isset($var[$key]))
-				{
-					$var = $var[$key];
-				}
-				else
-				{
-					return (is_array($default)) ? array() : $default;
-				}
-			}
-		}
-
-		$this->type_cast_helper->recursive_set_var($var, $default, $multibyte, false);
-
-		return $var;
+		return $this->_variable($var_name, $default, $multibyte, $super_global, false);
 	}
 
 	/**
@@ -414,4 +336,66 @@ class phpbb_request implements phpbb_request_interface
 
 		return array_keys($this->input[$super_global]);
 	}
+
+	/**
+	* Helper function used by variable() and untrimed_variable().
+	*
+	* @param	string|array	$var_name	The form variable's name from which data shall be retrieved.
+	* 										If the value is an array this may be an array of indizes which will give
+	* 										direct access to a value at any depth. E.g. if the value of "var" is array(1 => "a")
+	* 										then specifying array("var", 1) as the name will return "a".
+	* @param	mixed			$default	A default value that is returned if the variable was not set.
+	* 										This function will always return a value of the same type as the default.
+	* @param	bool			$multibyte	If $default is a string this paramater has to be true if the variable may contain any UTF-8 characters
+	*										Default is false, causing all bytes outside the ASCII range (0-127) to be replaced with question marks
+	* @param	phpbb_request_interface::POST|GET|REQUEST|COOKIE	$super_global
+	* 										Specifies which super global should be used
+	* @param	bool			$trim		Indicates whether trim() should be applied to string values.
+	*
+	* @return	mixed	The value of $_REQUEST[$var_name] run through {@link set_var set_var} to ensure that the type is the
+	*					the same as that of $default. If the variable is not set $default is returned.
+	*/
+	protected function _variable($var_name, $default, $multibyte = false, $super_global = phpbb_request_interface::REQUEST, $trim = true)
+	{
+		$path = false;
+
+		// deep direct access to multi dimensional arrays
+		if (is_array($var_name))
+		{
+			$path = $var_name;
+			// make sure at least the variable name is specified
+			if (empty($path))
+			{
+				return (is_array($default)) ? array() : $default;
+			}
+			// the variable name is the first element on the path
+			$var_name = array_shift($path);
+		}
+
+		if (!isset($this->input[$super_global][$var_name]))
+		{
+			return (is_array($default)) ? array() : $default;
+		}
+		$var = $this->input[$super_global][$var_name];
+
+		if ($path)
+		{
+			// walk through the array structure and find the element we are looking for
+			foreach ($path as $key)
+			{
+				if (is_array($var) && isset($var[$key]))
+				{
+					$var = $var[$key];
+				}
+				else
+				{
+					return (is_array($default)) ? array() : $default;
+				}
+			}
+		}
+
+		$this->type_cast_helper->recursive_set_var($var, $default, $multibyte, $trim);
+
+		return $var;
+	}
 }