diff --git a/test/SConscript b/test/SConscript
index 2974a0500..80adc7591 100644
--- a/test/SConscript
+++ b/test/SConscript
@@ -216,6 +216,7 @@ else:
 
 
 # Instantiate tests
+addTestProgram('general', 'general', env_vars=python_env_vars)
 addTestProgram('thermo', 'thermo', env_vars=python_env_vars)
 addTestProgram('kinetics', 'kinetics', env_vars=python_env_vars)
 
diff --git a/test/general/string_processing.cpp b/test/general/string_processing.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..9f4e461fe
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/general/string_processing.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,85 @@
+#include "gtest/gtest.h"
+#include "cantera/base/stringUtils.h"
+#include "cantera/base/global.h"
+#include "cantera/base/ctexceptions.h"
+
+namespace Cantera
+{
+
+TEST(parseCompString, space_separated)
+{
+    compositionMap c = parseCompString("foo:1.0  bar:2   baz:1e-4");
+    ASSERT_EQ((size_t) 3, c.size());
+    ASSERT_DOUBLE_EQ(1.0, c["foo"]);
+    ASSERT_DOUBLE_EQ(2.0, c["bar"]);
+    ASSERT_DOUBLE_EQ(1e-4, c["baz"]);
+}
+
+TEST(parseCompString, extra_spaces)
+{
+    compositionMap c = parseCompString("foo: 1.0  bar:  2   baz : 1e-4");
+    ASSERT_EQ((size_t) 3, c.size());
+    ASSERT_DOUBLE_EQ(1.0, c["foo"]);
+    ASSERT_DOUBLE_EQ(2.0, c["bar"]);
+    ASSERT_DOUBLE_EQ(1e-4, c["baz"]);
+}
+
+TEST(parseCompString, default_values)
+{
+    std::vector<std::string> x;
+    x.push_back("foo");
+    x.push_back("bar");
+    x.push_back("baz");
+    compositionMap c = parseCompString("foo:1.0  baz:2", x);
+    ASSERT_EQ((size_t) 3, c.size());
+    ASSERT_FALSE(c.find("bar") == c.end());
+    ASSERT_DOUBLE_EQ(0.0, c["bar"]);
+}
+
+TEST(parseCompString, delimiters)
+{
+    compositionMap c = parseCompString("\nfoo:1.0\tbar:2;baz:1e-4,qux:-1  ");
+    ASSERT_EQ((size_t) 4, c.size());
+    ASSERT_DOUBLE_EQ(1.0, c["foo"]);
+    ASSERT_DOUBLE_EQ(2.0, c["bar"]);
+    ASSERT_DOUBLE_EQ(1e-4, c["baz"]);
+    ASSERT_DOUBLE_EQ(-1, c["qux"]);
+}
+
+TEST(parseCompString, missing_element)
+{
+    std::vector<std::string> x;
+    x.push_back("foo");
+    x.push_back("bar");
+    ASSERT_THROW(parseCompString("foo:1.0  bar:2   baz:1e-4", x),
+                 CanteraError);
+}
+
+TEST(parseCompString, not_a_number)
+{
+    ASSERT_THROW(parseCompString("foo:1.0  bar:five   baz:1e-4"),
+                 CanteraError);
+}
+
+TEST(parseCompString, missing_value)
+{
+    ASSERT_THROW(parseCompString("foo:1.0  bar:   baz:1e-4"),
+                 CanteraError);
+}
+
+TEST(parseCompString, missing_last_value)
+{
+    ASSERT_THROW(parseCompString("foo:1.0  bar"),
+                 CanteraError);
+}
+
+}
+
+int main(int argc, char** argv)
+{
+    printf("Running main() from string_processing.cpp\n");
+    testing::InitGoogleTest(&argc, argv);
+    int result = RUN_ALL_TESTS();
+    Cantera::appdelete();
+    return result;
+}