diff --git a/utils.py b/utils.py
index 3b7bba8761ba0646c4b46df2fc0f592955d05d81..9b10af6005bf0fde8039d19ec1fe6dc4e637bc9e 100644
--- a/utils.py
+++ b/utils.py
@@ -39,7 +39,7 @@ def npmat_truncate_cols(mat, max_cols):
 
 def get_id_prefix_from_string(s):
     first_illegal_char_index = 0
-    for i, c in enumerate(s.replace(' ', '')):
+    for i, c in enumerate(s):
         if c not in 'QWERTYUIOPASDFGHJKLZXCVBNM1234567890qwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnm-':
             break
         else: