diff --git a/src/core.js b/src/core.js
index e34c127..8fb82a4 100644
--- a/src/core.js
+++ b/src/core.js
@@ -626,6 +626,22 @@ $.extend( $.validator, {
 				val = this.elementValue( element ),
 				result, method, rule;
 
+			// If a normalizer is defined for this element, then
+			// call it to retreive the changed value instead
+			// of using the real one.
+			// Note that `this` in the normalizer is `element`.
+			if ( typeof rules.normalizer === "function" ) {
+				val = rules.normalizer.call( element, val );
+
+				if ( typeof val !== "string" ) {
+					throw new TypeError( "The normalizer should return a string value." );
+				}
+
+				// Delete the normalizer from rules to avoid treating
+				// it as a pre-defined method.
+				delete rules.normalizer;
+			}
+
 			for ( method in rules ) {
 				rule = { method: method, parameters: rules[ method ] };
 				try {
@@ -860,7 +876,7 @@ $.extend( $.validator, {
 		// meta-characters that should be escaped in order to be used with JQuery
 		// as a literal part of a name/id or any selector.
 		escapeCssMeta: function( string ) {
-			return string.replace( /(!|"|#|\$|%|&|'|\(|\)|\*|\+|,|\.|\/|:|;|<|=|>|\?|@|\[|\\|\]|\^|`|\{|\||\}|~)/g, "\\$1");
+			return string.replace( /([\\!"#$%&'()*+,./:;<=>?@\[\]^`{|}~])/g, "\\$1" );
 		},
 
 		idOrName: function( element ) {
@@ -1103,7 +1119,7 @@ $.extend( $.validator, {
 
 		// evaluate parameters
 		$.each( rules, function( rule, parameter ) {
-			rules[ rule ] = $.isFunction( parameter ) ? parameter( element ) : parameter;
+			rules[ rule ] = $.isFunction( parameter ) && rule !== "normalizer" ? parameter( element ) : parameter;
 		} );
 
 		// clean number parameters
diff --git a/test/.jshintrc b/test/.jshintrc
index 6feee7c..23aa766 100644
--- a/test/.jshintrc
+++ b/test/.jshintrc
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@
 		"stop": false,
 		"test": false,
 		"TestHelpers": true,
+		"throws": false,
 		"JSHINT": false
 	}
 }
diff --git a/test/index.html b/test/index.html
index 5a61684..32b28cf 100644
--- a/test/index.html
+++ b/test/index.html
@@ -72,6 +72,7 @@
 		<label id="errorFirstnamec" for="firstnamec" class="error">error for firstname</label>
 		<input title="buga" name="lastname" id="lastnamec">
 		<input name="username" id="usernamec">
+		<input id="urlc" type="text" name="urlc">
 	</form>
 	<form id="userForm">
 		<input type="text" data-rule-required="true" name="username" id="username">
@@ -379,7 +380,7 @@
 	</form>
 	<form id="testForm21">
 		<label for="testForm21!#$%&'()*+,./:;<=>?@[\]^`{|}~">Input text</label>
-		<input type="text" name="testForm21!#$%&'()*+,./:;<=>?@[\]^`{|}~\" id="testForm21!#$%&'()*+,./:;<=>?@[\]^`{|}~" required minlength="15">
+		<input type="text" name="testForm21!#$%&'()*+,./:;<=>?@[\]^`{|}~" id="testForm21!#$%&'()*+,./:;<=>?@[\]^`{|}~" required minlength="15">
 	</form>
 </div>
 </body>
diff --git a/test/rules.js b/test/rules.js
index 5a3ea06..1b49d8d 100644
--- a/test/rules.js
+++ b/test/rules.js
@@ -305,3 +305,91 @@ test( "rules(), rangelength attribute as array", function() {
 		rangelength: [ 2, 3 ]
 	} );
 } );
+
+test( "rules(), normalizer", function() {
+	var username = $( "#usernamec" ),
+		urlc = $( "#urlc" ),
+		lastname = $( "#lastnamec" ),
+		v;
+
+	username.val( "\t\t \r" );
+	urlc.val( "" );
+
+	v = $( "#testForm1clean" ).validate( {
+		rules: {
+			username: {
+				required: true,
+				// Using the normalizer to trim the value of the element
+				// before validating it.
+				normalizer: function( value ) {
+					equal( this, username[ 0 ], "`this` in the normalizer should be the username element." );
+
+					// Trim the value of the input
+					return $.trim( value );
+				}
+			},
+			urlc: {
+				required: true,
+				url: true,
+				// Using the normalizer to append https:// if it's not
+				// present on the input value
+				normalizer: function( value ) {
+					equal( this, urlc[ 0 ], "`this` in the normalizer should be the urlc element." );
+
+					var url = value;
+
+					// Check if it doesn't start with http:// or https:// or ftp://
+					if ( url && url.substr( 0, 7 ) !== "http://" &&
+						url.substr( 0, 8 ) !== "https://" &&
+						url.substr( 0, 6 ) !== "ftp://" ) {
+						// then prefix with http:// or even https://
+						url = "https://" + url;
+					}
+
+					// Return the new url
+					return url;
+				}
+			},
+			lastname: {
+				required: true,
+				// Using the normalizer to trim the value of the element
+				// before validating it.
+				normalizer: function( value ) {
+					equal( this, lastname[ 0 ], "`this` in the normalizer should be the lastname element." );
+
+					// Return null in order to make sure a exception is thrown
+					// when normalizer returns a non string value.
+					value = null;
+
+					return value;
+				}
+			}
+		}
+	} );
+
+	// Validate only the username and the url elements.
+	username.valid();
+	equal( v.invalidElements()[ 0 ], username[ 0 ], "The username should be invalid" );
+
+	urlc.valid();
+	equal( v.invalidElements()[ 0 ], urlc[ 0 ], "The url should be invalid" );
+
+	equal( v.numberOfInvalids(), 2, "There is two invalid elements" );
+
+	username.val( "something" );
+	urlc.val( "google.com" );
+
+	username.trigger( "keyup" );
+	urlc.trigger( "keyup" );
+
+	equal( v.numberOfInvalids(), 0, "All elements are valid" );
+	equal( v.size(), 0, "All elements are valid" );
+	equal( v.isValidElement( urlc[ 0 ] ), true, "The url element should be valid" );
+
+	// Validate the lastname element, which will throw an exception
+	throws( function() {
+		v.check( lastname[ 0 ] );
+	}, function( err ) {
+		return err.name === "TypeError" && err.message === "The normalizer should return a string value.";
+	}, "This should throw a TypeError exception." );
+} );