diff --git a/tools/config/api.go b/tools/config/api.go
index 99be6a71e..c45e0f830 100644
--- a/tools/config/api.go
+++ b/tools/config/api.go
@@ -119,8 +119,14 @@ func (self *ConfigParser) parse(scanner Scanner, name, base_path_for_includes st
 			}
 			continue
 		}
-		key, val, _ := strings.Cut(line, " ")
-		val = strings.TrimSpace(val)
+		key, val := line, ""
+		for i, ch := range line {
+			if ch == ' ' || ch == '\t' {
+				key = line[:i]
+				val = strings.TrimSpace(line[i+1:])
+				break
+			}
+		}
 		switch key {
 		default:
 			err := self.LineHandler(key, val)
diff --git a/tools/themes/collection.go b/tools/themes/collection.go
index 385b7899d..fb9dc4615 100644
--- a/tools/themes/collection.go
+++ b/tools/themes/collection.go
@@ -476,7 +476,6 @@ func ParseThemeMetadata(path string) (*ThemeMetadata, map[string]string, error)
 	read_is_dark := func(key, val string) (err error) {
 		settings[key] = val
 		if key == "background" {
-			val = strings.TrimSpace(val)
 			if val != "" {
 				bg, err := style.ParseColor(val)
 				if err == nil {