strtrim

Remove leading and trailing whitespace from strings

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Syntax

newStr = strtrim(str)

Description

Note

strip is recommended over strtrim because it provides greater flexibility and allows vectorization. For additional information, see Alternative Functionality.

newStr = strtrim(str) removes leading and trailing whitespace characters from str and returns the result as newStr. However, strtrim does not remove significant whitespace characters. For example, strtrim removes leading and trailing space and tab characters, but does not remove the nonbreaking space character, char(160).

example

Examples

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Open Live Script

Create a character vector with spaces and a tab character as leading whitespace.

chr = sprintf('  \t   Remove    leading whitespace')
chr = 
'  	   Remove    leading whitespace'

Remove the leading tab and spaces.

newChr = strtrim(chr)
newChr = 
'Remove    leading whitespace'

strtrim removes the leading whitespace characters, but not the whitespace between other characters.

Open Live Script

Create a string array. 

str = ["   Gemini    ","   Apollo    ";
       "   ISS       ","   Skylab    "]
str = 2×2 string
    "   Gemini    "    "   Apollo    "
    "   ISS       "    "   Skylab    "

Remove leading and trailing whitespace with the strtrim function.

newStr = strtrim(str)
newStr = 2×2 string
    "Gemini"    "Apollo"
    "ISS"       "Skylab"
Open Live Script

Remove the leading and trailing whitespace from all the character vectors in a cell array and display them.

chr = {'     Trim leading whitespace';
       'Trim trailing whitespace     '}
chr = 2×1 cell
    {'     Trim leading whitespace' }
    {'Trim trailing whitespace     '}


newChr = strtrim(chr)
newChr = 2×1 cell
    {'Trim leading whitespace' }
    {'Trim trailing whitespace'}
Open Live Script

Create a character vector that includes the nonbreaking space character, char(160), as a trailing whitespace character.

chr = '     Keep nonbreaking space';
chr = [chr char(160) '     '];

Display chr between | symbols to show the leading and trailing whitespace.

['|' chr '|']
ans = 
'|     Keep nonbreaking space      |'

Remove the leading and trailing whitespace characters.

newChr = strtrim(chr);

Display newChr between | symbols. strtrim removes the space characters but leaves the nonbreaking space at the end of newChr.

['|' newChr '|']
ans = 
'|Keep nonbreaking space |'

Input Arguments

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Input text, specified as a character array or as a cell array of character arrays, or a string array.

Algorithms

strtrim does not remove significant whitespace characters.

This table shows the most common characters that are significant whitespace characters and their descriptions. For more information, see Whitespace character.

Significant Whitespace Character

Description

char(133)

Next line

char(160)

Nonbreaking space

char(8199)

Figure space

char(8239)

Narrow no-break space

Alternative Functionality

Update code that makes use of strtrim to use strip instead. For example:

Not RecommendedRecommended
str = "     test  ";
newStr = strtrim(str)
newStr = 

    "test"
 
str = "     test  ";
newStr = strip(str)
newStr = 

    "test"

Extended Capabilities

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Version History

Introduced before R2006a

See Also

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