PHP trim() Function

Remove characters from both sides of a string ("He" in "Hello" and "d!" in "World"):

<?php
$str = "Hello World!";
echo $str . " ";
echo trim($str,"Hed!");
?>

Definition and Usage

The trim() function removes whitespace and other predefined characters from both sides of a string.

Related functions:

ltrim() - Removes whitespace or other predefined characters from the left side of a string
rtrim() - Removes whitespace or other predefined characters from the right side of a string

trim(string,charlist)

Parameter	Description
string	Required. Specifies the string to check
charlist	Optional. Specifies which characters to remove from the string. If omitted, all of the following characters are removed: "\0" - NULL "\t" - tab "\n" - new line "\x0B" - vertical tab "\r" - carriage return " " - ordinary white space

Return Value:	Returns the modified string
PHP Version:	4+
Changelog:	The charlist parameter was added in PHP 4.1

Remove whitespaces from both sides of a string:

<?php
$str = " Hello World! ";
echo "Without trim: " . $str;
echo " ";
echo "With trim: " . trim($str);
?>

The HTML output of the code above will be (View Source):

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<body>

Without trim: Hello World! With trim: Hello World!
</body>
</html>

The browser output of the code above will be:

Without trim: Hello World!
With trim: Hello World!

Remove newlines (\n) from both sides of the string:

<?php
$str = "\n\n\nHello World!\n\n\n";
echo "Without trim: " . $str;
echo " ";
echo "With trim: " . trim($str);
?>

The HTML output of the code above will be (View Source):

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<body>

Without trim:

Hello World!

 With trim: Hello World!
</body>
</html>

The browser output of the code above will be:

Without trim: Hello World!
With trim: Hello World!