trim()

Removes specified characters from the beginning and end of a string.

Table of contents

1. Signature
2. Parameters
3. Returns
4. Description
5. Examples
   1. Basic Usage
   2. Custom Characters
   3. Whitespace Handling
   4. URL Path Cleaning
6. Use Cases
   1. Form Input Cleaning
   2. CSV Parsing
   3. Path Normalisation
   4. Log Message Cleaning
7. Comparison with PHP trim()
8. Related Methods

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Signature

public static function trim(string $string, string $characters = " \t\n\r\0\x0B"): string

Parameters

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
$string	string	-	The input string to trim
$characters	string	" \t\n\r\0\x0B"	Characters to remove from both ends

Returns

string - The trimmed string.

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Description

The trim() method removes specified characters from both the beginning and end of a string. By default, it removes common whitespace characters:

Character	Description
` `	Space
\t	Tab
\n	Newline (line feed)
\r	Carriage return
\0	Null byte
\x0B	Vertical tab

This method provides more explicit control over character removal compared to PHP’s built-in trim().

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Examples

Basic Usage

use MarjovanLier\StringManipulation\StringManipulation;

$result = StringManipulation::trim('  Hello World  ');
echo $result; // Output: Hello World

Custom Characters

// Remove specific characters
$result = StringManipulation::trim('###Hello###', '#');
echo $result; // Output: Hello

// Remove multiple custom characters
$result = StringManipulation::trim('***Hello***', '*#');
echo $result; // Output: Hello

Whitespace Handling

// Tabs and newlines
$input = "\t\nHello World\n\t";
$result = StringManipulation::trim($input);
echo $result; // Output: Hello World

// Mixed whitespace
$input = "  \t  Hello  \n  ";
$result = StringManipulation::trim($input);
echo $result; // Output: Hello

URL Path Cleaning

$path = '/api/users/';
$result = StringManipulation::trim($path, '/');
echo $result; // Output: api/users

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Use Cases

Form Input Cleaning

function cleanFormInput(array $input): array
{
    return array_map(function ($value) {
        if (is_string($value)) {
            return StringManipulation::trim($value);
        }
        return $value;
    }, $input);
}

$input = [
    'name' => '  John Doe  ',
    'email' => '  john@example.com  ',
];

$cleaned = cleanFormInput($input);
// Result: ['name' => 'John Doe', 'email' => 'john@example.com']

CSV Parsing

function parseCSVLine(string $line): array
{
    $fields = explode(',', $line);

    return array_map(function ($field) {
        // Remove quotes and whitespace
        return StringManipulation::trim($field, " \t\n\r\"'");
    }, $fields);
}

$line = '"John" , "Doe" , "john@example.com"';
$fields = parseCSVLine($line);
// Result: ['John', 'Doe', 'john@example.com']

Path Normalisation

function normalisePath(string $path): string
{
    // Remove trailing slashes
    $path = StringManipulation::trim($path, '/\\');

    // Ensure leading slash
    return '/' . $path;
}

$path = normalisePath('/api/users//');
// Result: /api/users

Log Message Cleaning

function cleanLogMessage(string $message): string
{
    // Remove control characters and excessive whitespace
    return StringManipulation::trim($message, " \t\n\r\0\x0B\x1B");
}

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Comparison with PHP trim()

Feature	StringManipulation::trim()	PHP trim()
Type safety	Explicit string parameter	Mixed input
Return type	Guaranteed string	String (with type juggling)
Default chars	Same whitespace set	Same whitespace set
Custom chars	Second parameter	Second parameter

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Related Methods

• strReplace() - For replacing characters within strings
• searchWords() - Includes trimming in normalisation