PHP trim() Function: Syntax, Examples
The trim() function is a built-in function in PHP which is used to remove white space or other specified characters from the beginning and end of the string. This function simply removes unwanted characters (like whitespace, tabs, newlines, etc.) from both ends of a string.
Syntax of PHP trim() Function
The general syntax to define trim() function in PHP is as follows:
trim(string $string, string $charlist): stringIn the above syntax, there are two parameters named $string and $charlist.
- $string is the input string you want to trim. This is a required parameter.
- $charlist specifies the list of characters you want to remove from the beginning and end of the string. However, this is an optional parameter, which was added in PHP 4.1. If you don’t specify this, PHP will remove all whitespace characters by default.
Return Value
The trim() function returns the trimmed string with specified characters removed from both ends. In other words, this function will return a new string value after trimming.
Default Characters Removed by PHP trim() Function
If you don’t specify the second parameter, the trim() function automatically removes the following whitespace characters by default:
- ” ” – space
- “\n” – newline
- “\r” – carriage return
- “\t” – tab
- “\v” – vertical tab
- “\0” – NULL byte
Basic Examples of trim() Function in PHP
Example 1: Let’s write a PHP program in which we will remove the leading and trailing white spaces from the string using trim() function.
<?php
$text = " Hello, PHP! ";
$trimmedStr = trim($text);
echo $trimmedStr;
?>
Output:
Hello, PHP!
Example 2: Let’s write a PHP program in which we will remove the custom character / from the beginning and end of a string using the trim() function.
<?php
$url = "/path/to/file/";
$trimmedUrl = trim($url, "/");
echo $trimmedUrl;
?>
Output:
path/to/file
In this example, we have defined a string containing a forward slash / at both the start and end. Then, we have used the trim() function to remove the forward slash / from both ends of the string. We have passed the forward slash / as the second parameter to the trim() function. After trimming string, the output is: “path/to/file”.
In this tutorial, you learned about how to use the trim() function in PHP to remove whitespace or other specified characters from the beginning and end of the string. I hope you will have understood the basic syntax and practiced all examples.
Stay tuned with the next tutorial where you will learn about ltrim() and rtrim() functions in PHP which remove characters from the left and right end of a string, respectively.
