String.Trim Method (System)

.NET Framework Class Library

String..::.Trim Method

Updated: April 2009

Removes all leading and trailing white-space characters from the current String object.

Namespace: System
Assembly: mscorlib (in mscorlib.dll)

Syntax

Visual Basic (Declaration)

Public Function Trim As String

Visual Basic (Usage)

Dim instance As String
Dim returnValue As String

returnValue = instance.Trim()

public string Trim()

Visual C++

public:
String^ Trim()

JScript

public function Trim() : String

Return Value

Type: System..::.String
The string that remains after all white-space characters are removed from the start and end of the current String object.

Remarks

The Trim method removes from the current string all leading and trailing white-space characters. Each leading and trailing trim operation stops when a non-white-space character is encountered. For example, if the current string is " abc xyz ", the Trim method returns "abc xyz".

Note:
This method does not modify the value of the current instance. Instead, it returns a new string in which all leading and trailing white space characters found in the current instance are removed.

If the current string equals Empty or all the characters in the current instance consist of white-space characters, the method returns Empty.

The following table lists the white-space characters removed by the Trim method. (Note that even though the static Char..::.IsWhiteSpace(Char) method returns true when passed a particular character, that character is not necessarily removed by the Trim method.) The first column lists the Unicode name for the character, and the second column lists the hexadecimal notation for the Unicode code point that identifies the character.

Unicode name	Unicode code point
CHARACTER TABULATION	U+0009
LINE FEED	U+000A
LINE TABULATION	U+000B
FORM FEED	U+000C
CARRIAGE RETURN	U+000D
SPACE	U+0020
NEXT LINE	U+0085
NO-BREAK SPACE	U+00A0
OGHAM SPACE MARK	U+1680
EN QUAD	U+2000
EM QUAD	U+2001
EN SPACE	U+2002
EM SPACE	U+2003
THREE-PER-EM SPACE	U+2004
FOUR-PER-EM SPACE	U+2005
SIX-PER-EM SPACE	U+2006
FIGURE SPACE	U+2007
PUNCTUATION SPACE	U+2008
THIN SPACE	U+2009
HAIR SPACE	U+200A
ZERO WIDTH SPACE	U+200B
LINE SEPARATOR	U+2028
PARAGRAPH SEPARATOR	U+2029
IDEOGRAPHIC SPACE	U+3000
ZERO WIDTH NO-BREAK SPACE	U+FEFF

Examples

The following example uses the String..::.Trim()()() method to remove any extra white space from strings entered by the user before concatenating them.

Visual Basic

Module Example
   Public Sub Main()
      Console.Write("Enter your first name: ")
      Dim firstName As String = Console.ReadLine()

      Console.Write("Enter your middle name or initial: ")
      Dim middleName As String = Console.ReadLine()

      Console.Write("Enter your last name: ")
      Dim lastName As String = Console.ReadLine

      Console.WriteLine()
      Console.WriteLine("You entered '{0}', '{1}', and '{2}'.", _
                        firstName, middleName, lastName)

      Dim name As String = (firstName.Trim() + " " + middleName.Trim()).Trim() _
                           + " " + lastName.Trim()                        
      Console.WriteLine("The result is " + name + ".")
   End Sub
End Module
' The following is possible output from this example:
'       Enter your first name:    John
'       Enter your middle name or initial:
'       Enter your last name:    Doe
'       
'       You entered '   John  ', '', and '   Doe'.
'       The result is John Doe

using System;

public class Example
{
   public static void Main()
   {
      Console.Write("Enter your first name: ");
      string firstName = Console.ReadLine();

      Console.Write("Enter your middle name or initial: ");
      string middleName = Console.ReadLine();

      Console.Write("Enter your last name: ");
      string lastName = Console.ReadLine();

      Console.WriteLine();
      Console.WriteLine("You entered '{0}', '{1}', and '{2}'.", 
                        firstName, middleName, lastName);

      string name = (firstName.Trim() + " " + middleName.Trim()).Trim() + " " + 
                    lastName.Trim();
      Console.WriteLine("The result is " + name + ".");
   }
}
// The following is possible output from this example:
//       Enter your first name:    John
//       Enter your middle name or initial:
//       Enter your last name:    Doe
//       
//       You entered '   John  ', '', and '   Doe'.
//       The result is John Doe

Platforms

Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP SP2, Windows XP Media Center Edition, Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, Windows XP Starter Edition, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2000 SP4, Windows Millennium Edition, Windows 98, Windows CE, Windows Mobile for Smartphone, Windows Mobile for Pocket PC, Xbox 360, Zune

The .NET Framework and .NET Compact Framework do not support all versions of every platform. For a list of the supported versions, see .NET Framework System Requirements.

Version Information