Trim Spaces from Beginning and end of Strings

[BPak]

Is there a function to remove Spaces from the Beginning and end of a String?

Looked through the help file in Strings and dont see any function for that.

[Erel]

There is no built-in function but you have two options:
1. If the string doesn't include spaces in the middle: StrReplace(string," ","")
2. If the string may contain spaces you will need to go over each character and manually remove the leading / trailing spaces.

[BPak]

OK - Option 2 will have to be the one!

Reading in a HTML file and stripping th markup and putting text into database - so need to strip of excess.

Thanks you for your reply.

[maXim]

I have resolved this way:

<font color="navy"><b>Sub</b></font> <font color="blue">fncALLTRIM</font><b><font color="navy">(</font></b>xString<font color="navy"><b>)</b></font>
<font color="darkgreen"><b>   If</b></font> <font color="sienna"><b>StrLength</b></font>(xString) <font color="red"><b><</b></font> 1 <font color="darkgreen"><b>Then</b></font> <b><font color="sienna">Return</font></b> ""
    xs <b><font color="red">=</font></b> <font color="blue">fncLTRIM</font>(xString)
    xs <b><font color="red">=</font></b> <font color="blue">fncRTRIM</font>(xs)
    <font color="sienna"><b>Return</b></font> xs
<font color="navy"><b>End Sub</b></font>
 
<b><font color="#000080">Sub</font></b> <font color="blue">fncLTRIM</font><b><font color="#000080">(</font></b>xString<b><font color="#000080">)</font></b>
    <b><font color="#006400">If</font></b> <font color="sienna"><b>StrLength</b></font>(xString) <font color="red"><b><</b></font> 1 <font color="darkgreen"><b>Then</b></font> <b><font color="sienna">Return</font></b> ""
    xs <b><font color="red">=</font></b> xString
<font color="purple">rLTRIM</font>:
    <b><font color="darkgreen">If</font></b> <b><font color="sienna">StrLength</font></b>(xs) <b><font color="red">></font></b> 0 <font color="darkgreen"><b>Then</b></font>
         <font color="darkgreen"><b>If</b></font> <font color="sienna"><b>SubString</b></font>(xs, 0, 1) <b><font color="red">=</font></b> <font color="sienna"><b>Chr</b></font>(32) <b><font color="darkgreen">Then</font></b>
            xs <b><font color="red">=</font></b> <b><font color="sienna">SubString</font></b>(xs, 1, <font color="sienna"><b>StrLength</b></font>(xs) <b><font color="red">-</font></b> 1)
            <b><font color="sienna">Goto</font></b> <font color="purple">rLTRIM</font>
         <font color="darkgreen"><b>End If</b></font>
    <b><font color="darkgreen">End If</font></b>
    <b><font color="#a0522d">Return</font></b> xs
<b><font color="#000080">End Sub</font></b>
 
<b><font color="#000080">Sub</font></b> <font color="blue">fncRTRIM</font><b><font color="#000080">(</font></b>xString<b><font color="#000080">)</font></b>
    <b><font color="#006400">If</font></b> <font color="sienna"><b>StrLength</b></font>(xString) <font color="red"><b><</b></font> 1 <font color="darkgreen"><b>Then</b></font> <b><font color="sienna">Return</font></b> ""
    xs <b><font color="red">=</font></b> xString
<font color="purple">rRTRIM</font>:
    <b><font color="darkgreen">If</font></b> <b><font color="sienna">StrLength</font></b>(xs) <b>></b> 0 Then
        <font color="darkgreen"><b>If</b></font> <b><font color="sienna">SubString</font></b>(xs, <font color="sienna"><b>StrLength</b></font>(xs) <b><font color="red">-</font></b> 1, 1) <b><font color="red">=</font></b> <b><font color="sienna">Chr</font></b>(32) <font color="sienna"><b><font color="darkgreen">Then</font></b>
</font>          xs <b><font color="red">=</font></b> <b><font color="sienna">SubString</font></b>(xs, 0, <font color="sienna"><b>StrLength</b></font>(xs) <b><font color="red">-</font></b> 1)
            <b><font color="sienna">Goto</font></b> <font color="purple">rRTRIM</font>
        <font color="darkgreen"><b>End If</b></font>
    <font color="sienna"><b><font color="darkgreen">End If</font></b>
</font><b><font color="#a0522d">   Return</font></b> xs
<b><font color="#000080">End Sub</font></b>

this is not the best solution but works!

In my projects, exposed in "Italian Forum", you will find other examples and functions...

Regards.

[specci48]

Hi maXim,

just as a small hint, there is no need to code the ugly () keyword Goto.
The Do While function in connection with the Exit statement is a much better solution:

Sub fncLTRIM(xString)
    If StrLength(xString) < 1 Then Return ""
    xs = xString
    Do While StrLength(xs) > 0
        If SubString(xs, 0, 1) = Chr(32) Then
            xs = SubString(xs, 1, StrLength(xs) - 1)
        Else
        Exit
        End If
    Loop
    Return xs
End Sub

specci48

[maXim]

Hi specci48,

sorry for my English but not for my example...

Your observation is correct but the cycle DO WHILE ... LOOP results to be slower than around 0,25uS in comparison to the simple GOTO! (verified on my PPC: Acer n30). I don't believe that this is a problem HW since all the compilers suffer of it...

Regards.

[specci48]

Hi maXim,

it's OK! I never thought that your focus on speed is so high.
And now we all know, that the compiler could be optimized on this sample code...


specci48

[dzt]

Ciao Massimo,

I was waiting for this answer as I was watching your posts, and you didn't disappoint me.

[BPak]

Great solutions for trimming the excess spaces from begging and trailing.

Thank you for sharing them.

I had a thought about just passing the string using StrAt to find the first and last Character that was not a space and then use SubString on those two numbers?

"...Clarendon Red...."
The full points at begin and end of above represent spaces (. to make visible for example).
StrAt shows the first 3 as spaces and the 4th one as a non Space and sets the start location at 3 - the StrAt func then finds the last NON space to be at position 15 - SubString "...Clarendon Red....", FirstPos, SecondPos-FirstPos)

Would that technique be a fast operation with the processor?

[tvrman]

Originally Posted by BPak

OK - Option 2 will have to be the one!

Reading in a HTML file and stripping th markup and putting text into database - so need to strip of excess.

Thanks you for your reply.

Oeps i did not read this post very well, im also busy to create
an script for removing the html tags.
let me know if you got one.

thanks