diff --git a/src/core/utils.js b/src/core/utils.js
index 4a2845b7058..b64b29cf1cc 100644
--- a/src/core/utils.js
+++ b/src/core/utils.js
@@ -652,5 +652,5 @@ export const shallowEqualKeys = (a,b, keys) => {
   })
 }
 
-export const createDeepLinkPath = (str) => str ? str.replace(/\s/g, "_") : ""
+export const createDeepLinkPath = (str) => typeof str == "string" || str instanceof String ? str.trim().replace(/\s/g, "_") : ""
 export const escapeDeepLinkPath = (str) => cssEscape( createDeepLinkPath(str) )
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/core/utils.js b/test/core/utils.js
index 55dfeace83f..c9921ef7192 100644
--- a/test/core/utils.js
+++ b/test/core/utils.js
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 /* eslint-env mocha */
 import expect from "expect"
 import { fromJS } from "immutable"
-import { mapToList, validateNumber, validateInteger, validateParam, validateFile, fromJSOrdered } from "core/utils"
+import { mapToList, validateNumber, validateInteger, validateParam, validateFile, fromJSOrdered, createDeepLinkPath, escapeDeepLinkPath } from "core/utils"
 import win from "core/window"
 
 describe("utils", function() {
@@ -581,5 +581,55 @@ describe("utils", function() {
       const result = fromJSOrdered(param).toJS()
       expect( result ).toEqual( [1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8] )
     })
+  })
+
+  describe("createDeepLinkPath", function() {
+    it("creates a deep link path replacing spaces with underscores", function() {
+      const result = createDeepLinkPath("tag id with spaces")
+      expect(result).toEqual("tag_id_with_spaces")
+    })
+
+    it("trims input when creating a deep link path", function() {
+      let result = createDeepLinkPath("  spaces before and after    ")
+      expect(result).toEqual("spaces_before_and_after")
+
+      result = createDeepLinkPath("  ")
+      expect(result).toEqual("")
     })
+
+    it("creates a deep link path with special characters", function() {
+      const result = createDeepLinkPath("!@#$%^&*(){}[]")
+      expect(result).toEqual("!@#$%^&*(){}[]")
+    })
+
+    it("returns an empty string for invalid input", function() {
+      expect( createDeepLinkPath(null) ).toEqual("")
+      expect( createDeepLinkPath(undefined) ).toEqual("")
+      expect( createDeepLinkPath(1) ).toEqual("")
+      expect( createDeepLinkPath([]) ).toEqual("")
+      expect( createDeepLinkPath({}) ).toEqual("")
+    })
+  })
+
+  describe("escapeDeepLinkPath", function() {
+    it("creates and escapes a deep link path", function() {
+      const result = escapeDeepLinkPath("tag id with spaces?")
+      expect(result).toEqual("tag_id_with_spaces\\?")
+    })
+
+    it("escapes a deep link path that starts with a number", function() {
+      const result = escapeDeepLinkPath("123")
+      expect(result).toEqual("\\31 23")
+    })
+
+    it("escapes a deep link path with a class selector", function() {
+      const result = escapeDeepLinkPath("hello.world")
+      expect(result).toEqual("hello\\.world")
+    })
+
+    it("escapes a deep link path with an id selector", function() {
+      const result = escapeDeepLinkPath("hello#world")
+      expect(result).toEqual("hello\\#world")
+    })
+  })
 })