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Use trim($string) to remove PHP’s documented default whitespace and control characters from both ends of a string. It leaves characters in the middle untouched.
Trim whitespace from both ends
The PHP Manual describes trim() as “Strip whitespace (or other characters) from the beginning and end of a string.” With no second argument, it removes these characters: ordinary space (0x20), tab (0x09), line feed (0x0A), carriage return (0x0D), NUL (0x00), and vertical tab (0x0B).
<?php
$name = " Ada Lovelacet";
$clean = trim($name); // "Ada Lovelace"
?>The string’s interior is not changed. For example, spaces between words remain in place.
Trim only the beginning or end
Choose the function according to which edge needs cleaning:
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| Function | What it removes | Example result |
|---|---|---|
trim($string) |
Matching characters from both ends | "Ada" |
ltrim($string) |
Matching characters from the beginning only | "Ada " from " Ada " |
rtrim($string) |
Matching characters from the end only | " Ada" from " Ada " |
See the PHP Manual entries for ltrim() and rtrim().
<?php
$leftClean = ltrim(" Ada Lovelace "); // "Ada Lovelace "
$rightClean = rtrim(" Ada Lovelace "); // " Ada Lovelace"
?>Remove specific characters with a character mask
Pass a second argument to trim a different set of characters. It is a character mask: each listed character is eligible for removal at either edge, rather than the argument being treated as one literal substring.
Rank #2
<?php
$punctuationClean = trim("...hello...", "."); // "hello"
$clean = trim("Hello World", "Hdle");
?>In the second example, PHP can remove any of H, d, l, or e as they occur at the edges. It does not look for the exact text Hdle. A mask can also use .. to specify an incrementing range; the PHP Manual shows "x00..x1F" for a range of control characters. Keep masks limited to the characters your input actually requires.
Do not assume every Unicode whitespace character is trimmed
PHP’s documented default is the specific character set listed above, not a promise to remove every character that might be considered whitespace in Unicode. If your input may contain a particular non-ASCII whitespace character, verify that character and your target PHP version before choosing a trimming approach.
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