diff --git a/src/OpenFOAM/global/argList/argList.C b/src/OpenFOAM/global/argList/argList.C
index 01feb13dfc..37caa6ddb3 100644
--- a/src/OpenFOAM/global/argList/argList.C
+++ b/src/OpenFOAM/global/argList/argList.C
@@ -127,8 +127,7 @@ void Foam::argList::getRootCase()
     if (iter != options_.end())
     {
         casePath = iter();
-        casePath.removeRepeated('/');
-        casePath.removeTrailing('/');
+        casePath.clean();
 
         // handle degenerate form and '-case .' like no -case specified
         if (casePath.empty() || casePath == ".")
diff --git a/src/OpenFOAM/primitives/strings/fileName/fileName.C b/src/OpenFOAM/primitives/strings/fileName/fileName.C
index 6d930e9fe8..ac6dc75025 100644
--- a/src/OpenFOAM/primitives/strings/fileName/fileName.C
+++ b/src/OpenFOAM/primitives/strings/fileName/fileName.C
@@ -55,6 +55,27 @@ Foam::fileName::Type Foam::fileName::type() const
 }
 
 
+bool Foam::fileName::clean()
+{
+    bool changed = false;
+
+    changed = this->removeRepeated('/') || changed;
+    changed = this->removeTrailing('/') || changed;
+
+    return changed;
+}
+
+
+// Return string with repeated characters removed
+Foam::fileName Foam::fileName::clean() const
+{
+    fileName fName(*this);
+    fName.clean();
+    return fName;
+}
+
+
+
 //  Return file name (part beyond last /)
 //
 //  behaviour compared to /usr/bin/basename:
diff --git a/src/OpenFOAM/primitives/strings/fileName/fileName.H b/src/OpenFOAM/primitives/strings/fileName/fileName.H
index a47f53ed80..709e70920b 100644
--- a/src/OpenFOAM/primitives/strings/fileName/fileName.H
+++ b/src/OpenFOAM/primitives/strings/fileName/fileName.H
@@ -128,6 +128,13 @@ public:
         //- Is this character valid for a fileName?
         inline static bool valid(char);
 
+        //- Cleanup file name
+        //  eg, remove repeated slashes, etc.
+        bool clean();
+
+        //- Cleanup file name
+        //  eg, remove repeated slashes, etc.
+        fileName clean() const;
 
         // Interogation