diff --git a/picard/script.py b/picard/script.py
index b03b3a902..ae457d940 100644
--- a/picard/script.py
+++ b/picard/script.py
@@ -483,7 +483,11 @@ def func_firstwords(parser, text, length):
         return text[:length].rsplit(' ', 1)[0]
 
 def func_truncate(parser, text, length):
-    return text[:length].rtrim()
+    try:
+        length = int(length)
+    except ValueError, e:
+        length = None
+    return text[:length].rstrip()
 
 register_script_function(func_if, "if", eval_args=False)
 register_script_function(func_if2, "if2", eval_args=False)
diff --git a/test/test_script.py b/test/test_script.py
index 882192506..2689b9915 100644
--- a/test/test_script.py
+++ b/test/test_script.py
@@ -132,3 +132,11 @@ class ScriptParserTest(unittest.TestCase):
         self.failUnlessEqual(self.parser.eval("$lte(10,10)"), "1")
         self.failUnlessEqual(self.parser.eval("$lte(4,10)"), "1")
         self.failUnlessEqual(self.parser.eval("$lte(4,6)"), "1")
+
+    def test_cmd_truncate(self):
+        self.failUnlessEqual(self.parser.eval("$truncate(abcdefg,0)"), "")
+        self.failUnlessEqual(self.parser.eval("$truncate(abcdefg,7)"), "abcdefg")
+        self.failUnlessEqual(self.parser.eval("$truncate(abcdefg,3)"), "abc")
+        self.failUnlessEqual(self.parser.eval("$truncate(abcdefg,10)"), "abcdefg")
+        self.failUnlessEqual(self.parser.eval("$truncate(abcdefg,)"), "abcdefg")
+        self.failUnlessEqual(self.parser.eval("$truncate(abcdefg,NaN)"), "abcdefg")