Index: privatemsg.module
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvs/drupal-contrib/contributions/modules/privatemsg/privatemsg.module,v
retrieving revision 1.70.2.30.2.91.2.64.2.73
diff -u -p -r1.70.2.30.2.91.2.64.2.73 privatemsg.module
--- privatemsg.module	12 Jul 2010 08:21:42 -0000	1.70.2.30.2.91.2.64.2.73
+++ privatemsg.module	12 Jul 2010 09:01:20 -0000
@@ -836,11 +836,12 @@ function _privatemsg_parse_userstring($i
           }
         }
       }
+
+      // Remove optonal user specifier.
+      $string = trim(str_replace(t('[user]'), '', $string));
       // Fall back to the default username lookup.
       if (!$error = module_invoke('user', 'validate_name', $string)) {
         // String is a valid username, look it up.
-        // Remove optonal user specifier.
-        $string = str_replace('[user]', '', $string);
         if ($recipient = user_load_by_name($string)) {
           $recipient->recipient = $recipient->uid;
           $recipient->type = 'user';
Index: privatemsg.test
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvs/drupal-contrib/contributions/modules/privatemsg/privatemsg.test,v
retrieving revision 1.2.2.1.2.28
diff -u -p -r1.2.2.1.2.28 privatemsg.test
--- privatemsg.test	12 Jul 2010 05:15:21 -0000	1.2.2.1.2.28
+++ privatemsg.test	12 Jul 2010 09:01:20 -0000
@@ -209,9 +209,9 @@ class PrivatemsgTestCase extends DrupalW
     $this->drupalLogin($author);
     $this->drupalGet('messages/new');
 
-    // Prepare edit arrays, single recipient.
+    // Prepare edit arrays, single recipient with [user].
     $edit = array(
-      'recipient'   => $recipient->name,
+      'recipient'   => $recipient->name . ' [user]',
       'subject'     => $this->randomName(20),
       'body[value]' => $this->randomName(100),
     );