Python String strip() Method

strip() method in Python removes all leading and trailing whitespace by default. You can also specify a set of characters to remove from both ends. It returns a new string and does not modify the original.

Let's take an example to remove whitespace from both ends of a string.

s = "  GeeksforGeeks  "
res = s.strip()
print(res)

GeeksforGeeks

Explanation: s.strip() removes spaces at the start and end of the string.

Syntax

s.strip(chars)

Parameters:

• chars(optional): A string specifying the set of characters to remove from the beginning and end of the string.

Return Type: A new string with specified characters removed from both ends.

Examples of strip() Method

Removing Custom Characters

We can also use custom characters from the beginning and end of a string. This is useful when we want to clean up specific unwanted characters such as symbols, punctuation, or any other characters that are not part of the core string content

s = '  ##*#GeeksforGeeks#**##  '
res = s.strip('#* ')
print(res)

GeeksforGeeks

Explanation:

• strip('#* ') removes any #, *, and spaces from both beginning and end of the string.
• It stops stripping characters from both end once it encounters a character that are not in the specified set of characters.

Removing Newline Characters

We can also remove the leading and trailing newline characters (\n) from a string.

s = '\nGeeks for Geeks\n'
res = s.strip()
print(res)

Geeks for Geeks

Explanation: Removes newline characters \n from both ends of the string.

Strip Tabs and Spaces

s = '\t  Hello World  \t'
res = s.strip()
print(res)

Hello World

Explanation: Removes both tabs (\t) and spaces from the start and end of the string.

Related articles: newline characters (\n)