Remove Whitespace¶

Zero-dependency Python snippets for removing whitespace from strings using the standard library.

5 snippets available in this sub-category.

Simple¶

Remove all whitespace¶

string whitespace remove replace text

Remove all spaces, tabs, and newlines from string

text = "  Hello   World  Python  "
no_whitespace = text.replace(" ", "").replace("\t", "").replace("\n", "")
print(no_whitespace)

Notes

Removes spaces, tabs, and newlines
Preserves all other characters
Simple and straightforward
Works with any string

Remove leading and trailing whitespace¶

string whitespace strip leading trailing text

Remove whitespace from beginning and end of string

text = "  Hello World  "
cleaned = text.strip()
print(cleaned)

Notes

Removes spaces, tabs, newlines from ends
Preserves internal whitespace
Most common whitespace cleaning
Safe for any string

Complex¶

Remove whitespace with custom characters¶

string whitespace remove custom characters text

Remove specific whitespace characters from string

def remove_whitespace_custom(text, chars=None):
    """Remove specified whitespace characters from string."""
    if chars is None:
        chars = " \t\n\r\f\v"  # All whitespace characters

    result = text
    for char in chars:
        result = result.replace(char, "")
    return result


text = "  Hello\tWorld\nPython\r\n"
result = remove_whitespace_custom(text)
print(result)  # "HelloWorldPython"

# Remove only spaces and tabs
result = remove_whitespace_custom(text, " \t")
print(result)  # "HelloWorld\nPython\r\n"

Notes

Customizable character removal
Supports all whitespace types
Preserves non-whitespace characters
Flexible for different needs

Remove whitespace with normalization¶

string whitespace normalize regex text

Remove all whitespace and normalize to single characters

import re


def normalize_whitespace(text, replace_with=" "):
    """Remove all whitespace and normalize to single spaces."""
    # Replace all whitespace sequences with single space
    normalized = re.sub(r"\s+", replace_with, text)
    # Remove leading/trailing whitespace
    return normalized.strip()


text = "  Hello   World\n\nPython\t\tProgramming  "
result = normalize_whitespace(text)
print(result)  # "Hello World Python Programming"

# Normalize to single character
result = normalize_whitespace(text, "")
print(result)  # "HelloWorldPythonProgramming"

Notes

Uses regex for efficient processing
Normalizes multiple whitespace to single
Configurable replacement character
Useful for text cleaning

Check if string is empty¶

string empty whitespace validation check text

Check if string is empty or contains only whitespace

def is_empty(text):
    """Check if string is empty or whitespace only."""
    return not text or not text.strip()


# Examples
print(is_empty(""))  # True
print(is_empty("   "))  # True
print(is_empty("Hello"))  # False
print(is_empty("\t\n"))  # True

Notes

Handles empty strings
Handles whitespace-only strings
Common validation pattern
Safe for None values

🔗 Cross-References¶

Reference: See 📂 Strip Characters
Reference: See 📂 Normalize Whitespace

🏷️ Tags¶

string, whitespace, remove, strip, text

📝 Notes¶

Use str.replace() or regex to remove whitespace
Useful for data cleaning and normalization
Related: stripping and normalizing whitespace