NAME Text::Trim - remove leading and trailing whitespace from strings SYNOPSIS use Text::Trim; $text = "\timportant data\n"; $data = trim $text; # now $data contains "important data" and $text is unchanged # or: trim $text; # work in place, $text now contains "important data" @lines = ; rtrim @lines; # remove trailing whitespace from all lines # Alternatively: @lines = rtrim ; while () { trim; # Change $_ in place # ... } DESCRIPTION This module provides functions for removing leading and/or trailing whitespace from strings. EXPORTS All functions are exported by default. CONTEXT HANDLING void context Functions called in void context change their arguments in-place trim(@strings); # All strings in @strings are trimmed in-place ltrim($text); # remove leading whitespace on $text rtrim; # remove trailing whitespace on $_ No changes are made to arguments in non-void contexts. list context Values passed in are changed and returned without affecting the originals. @result = trim(@strings); # @strings is unchanged @result = rtrim; # @result contains rtrimmed $_ ($result) = ltrim(@strings); # like $result = ltrim($strings[0]); scalar context As list context but multiple arguments are stringified before being returned. Single arguments are unaffected. This means that under these circumstances, the value of $" ($LIST_SEPARATOR) is used to join the values. If you don't want this, make sure you only use single arguments when calling in scalar context. @strings = ("\thello\n", "\tthere\n"); $trimmed = trim(@strings); # $trimmed = "hello there" local $" = ', '; $trimmed = trim(@strings); # Now $trimmed = "hello, there" $trimmed = rtrim; # $trimmed = $_ minus trailing whitespace FUNCTIONS trim Removes leading and trailing whitespace from all arguments, or $_ if none are provided. rtrim Like trim() but removes only trailing (right) whitespace. ltrim Like trim() but removes only leading (left) whitespace. AUTHOR Matt Lawrence