Real Python: How to Strip Characters From a Python String

Python's .strip() method is used to remove whitespace characters from both ends of a string by default. The method is useful for tasks such as cleaning user input, standardizing filenames, and preparing data for storage. To remove different characters, a string can be passed as an argument to specify the set of characters to remove. The .strip() method removes leading and trailing whitespace but does not remove whitespace from the middle of a string. It can also be used to remove specified characters from both ends of a string by providing these characters as an argument. The related methods .lstrip() and .rstrip() can be used to remove characters from one side of the string only. All three methods remove character sets, not sequences, and .removeprefix() and .removesuffix() can be used to strip character sequences from the start or end of a string. The .strip() method provides a quick and reliable way to remove unwanted spaces, tabs, and newline characters from both the beginning and end of a string. It is useful for tasks such as validating user input, cleaning messy text, and preparing data for storage. By using the .strip() method, strings can be cleaned and prepared for further processing, making it a useful tool for tasks such as data cleaning and text processing.