diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 3e88c84..ffb6fca 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -30,6 +30,8 @@ curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rcaloras/bash-preexec/master/bash-preexec
 echo '[[ -f ~/.bash-preexec.sh ]] && source ~/.bash-preexec.sh' >> ~/.bashrc
 ```
 
+NOTE: this script may change your `HISTCONTROL` value by removing `ignorespace` and/or replacing `ignoreboth` with `ignoredups`.  See [`HISTCONTROL` interaction](#histcontrol-interaction) for details.
+
 ## Usage
 Two functions **preexec** and **precmd** can now be defined and they'll be automatically invoked by bash-preexec if they exist.
 
@@ -91,6 +93,10 @@ export __bp_enable_subshells="true"
 ```
 This is disabled by default due to buggy situations related to to `functrace` and Bash's `DEBUG trap`. See [Issue #25](https://github.com/rcaloras/bash-preexec/issues/25)
 
+## `HISTCONTROL` interaction
+
+In order to be able to provide the last command text to the `preexec` hook, this script will remove `ignorespace` and/or will replace `ignoreboth` with `ignoredups` in your `HISTCONTROL` variable.  It will remember if `HISTCONTROL` has been modified and will remove the last command from the history "manually", after reading the last command from the history list.  This may cause issues when you have scripts that rely on the literal value of `HISTCONTROL` or manipulate history in their own ways.
+
 ## Tests
 You can run tests using [Bats](https://github.com/bats-core/bats-core).
 ```bash
diff --git a/bash-preexec.sh b/bash-preexec.sh
index 4380683..832c3b9 100644
--- a/bash-preexec.sh
+++ b/bash-preexec.sh
@@ -46,6 +46,7 @@ __bp_imported="defined"
 __bp_last_ret_value="$?"
 BP_PIPESTATUS=("${PIPESTATUS[@]}")
 __bp_last_argument_prev_command="$_"
+__bp_ignorespace=
 
 __bp_inside_precmd=0
 __bp_inside_preexec=0
@@ -62,15 +63,25 @@ __bp_require_not_readonly() {
   done
 }
 
-# Remove ignorespace and or replace ignoreboth from HISTCONTROL
-# so we can accurately invoke preexec with a command from our
-# history even if it starts with a space.
+# Remove ignorespace and or replace ignoreboth from HISTCONTROL so we can
+# accurately invoke preexec with a command from our history even if it starts
+# with a space.  We then remove commands that start with a space from the
+# history "manually", if either "ignorespace" or "ignoreboth" was part of
+# HISTCONTROL.
 __bp_adjust_histcontrol() {
     local histcontrol
-    histcontrol="${HISTCONTROL//ignorespace}"
+    if [[ "$HISTCONTROL" == *"ignorespace"* || "$HISTCONTROL" == *"ignoreboth"* ]]; then
+      __bp_ignorespace=yes
+    fi
+    histcontrol="${HISTCONTROL//ignorespace:}"
+    histcontrol="${histcontrol//:ignorespace}"
+    histcontrol="${histcontrol//ignorespace}"
     # Replace ignoreboth with ignoredups
     if [[ "$histcontrol" == *"ignoreboth"* ]]; then
-        histcontrol="ignoredups:${histcontrol//ignoreboth}"
+        histcontrol="${histcontrol//ignoreboth:}"
+        histcontrol="${histcontrol//:ignoreboth}"
+        histcontrol="${histcontrol//ignoreboth}"
+        histcontrol="ignoredups${histcontrol:+:}${histcontrol}"
     fi;
     export HISTCONTROL="$histcontrol"
 }
@@ -213,6 +224,23 @@ __bp_preexec_invoke_exec() {
         return
     fi
 
+    # If we have removed "ignorespace" or "ignoreboth" from HISTCONTROL
+    # during setup, we need to remove commands that start with a space from
+    # the history ourselves.
+
+    # With bash 5.0 or above, we could have just ran
+    #
+    #   builtin history -d -1
+    #
+    # Negative indices for `-d` are not supported before 5.0, so we need to
+    # do some computation ourselves.
+    if [[ -n "$__bp_ignorespace" && "$this_command" == " "* ]]; then
+        builtin history -d "$(
+            export LC_ALL=C
+            HISTTIMEFORMAT= history 1 | sed '1 s/^ *\([0-9][0-9]*\).*/\1/'
+        )"
+    fi
+
     # If none of the previous checks have returned out of this function, then
     # the command is in fact interactive and we should invoke the user's
     # preexec functions.
diff --git a/test/bash-preexec.bats b/test/bash-preexec.bats
index 42fd43e..4c0d1b5 100644
--- a/test/bash-preexec.bats
+++ b/test/bash-preexec.bats
@@ -236,18 +236,17 @@ test_preexec_echo() {
     # Should remove ignorespace
     HISTCONTROL="ignorespace:ignoredups:*"
     __bp_adjust_histcontrol
-    [ "$HISTCONTROL" == ":ignoredups:*" ]
+    [ "$HISTCONTROL" == "ignoredups:*" ]
 
     # Should remove ignoreboth and replace it with ignoredups
     HISTCONTROL="ignoreboth"
     __bp_adjust_histcontrol
-    [ "$HISTCONTROL" == "ignoredups:" ]
+    [ "$HISTCONTROL" == "ignoredups" ]
 
     # Handle a few inputs
     HISTCONTROL="ignoreboth:ignorespace:some_thing_else"
     __bp_adjust_histcontrol
-    echo "$HISTCONTROL"
-    [ "$HISTCONTROL" == "ignoredups:::some_thing_else" ]
+    [ "$HISTCONTROL" == "ignoredups:some_thing_else" ]
 
 }
 
@@ -270,6 +269,7 @@ test_preexec_echo() {
 
     run '__bp_preexec_invoke_exec'
     [ $status -eq 0 ]
+    echo "__bp_preexec_invoke_exec: output: '$output'"
     [ "$output" == " this command has whitespace " ]
 }
 
@@ -292,3 +292,33 @@ a multiline string'" ]
     [ $status -eq 0 ]
     [ "$output" == '-n' ]
 }
+
+@test "HISTCONTROL is updated, but ignorespace functionality is honoured" {
+    preexec_functions+=(test_preexec_echo)
+    HISTCONTROL=ignorespace:ignoreboth
+
+    __bp_adjust_histcontrol
+
+    [[ "$HISTCONTROL" == "ignoredups" ]]
+
+    __bp_interactive_mode
+
+    command1="this command is in the history"
+
+    history -s "$command1"
+    run '__bp_preexec_invoke_exec'
+    [[ $status == 0 ]]
+    [[ "$output" == "$command1" ]]
+    last_history=$(HISTTIMEFORMAT= history 1 | sed '1 s/^ *[0-9][0-9]* *//')
+    [[ "$last_history" == "$command1" ]]
+
+    command2=" this should not be in the history"
+
+    history -s "$command2"
+    # we need to extract command history in the subshell, as the parent shell
+    # history is actually not affected.
+    output=$(__bp_preexec_invoke_exec && \
+        printf "last_history: %s\n" "$(HISTTIMEFORMAT= history 1 | sed '1 s/^ *[0-9][0-9]* *//')" )
+    [[ $status == 0 ]]
+    [[ "$output" == "$command2"$'\n'"last_history: $command1" ]]
+}