deblank

Remove trailing whitespace from ends of strings

Syntax

newStr = deblank(str)

Description

Note

strip is recommended over deblank because it provides greater flexibility and allows vectorization. For additional information, see Alternative Functionality.

newStr = deblank(str) removes trailing whitespace and null characters from str and returns the result as newStr. However, deblank does not remove significant whitespace characters. For example, deblank removes trailing space and tab characters, but does not remove the nonbreaking space character, char(160).

Examples

Remove Trailing Blanks from Character Vector

Create a character vector that contains space, tab, and null characters.

chr = sprintf(' \t MathWorks \t');
chr = [chr char(0)];

Display chr between | characters.

['|' chr '|']

ans = 
'| 	 MathWorks 	 |'

Remove the trailing blanks and display newChr between | characters.

newChr = deblank(chr);
['|' newChr '|']

ans = 
'| 	 MathWorks|'

Convert Character Array and Remove Trailing Spaces

Create a character array that contains multiple pieces of text. When a character array contains multiple rows, it is often necessary to pad the array with space characters.

chr = ['Mercury';
       'Apollo ';
       'ISS    ']

chr = 3x7 char array
    'Mercury'
    'Apollo '
    'ISS    '

Convert chr to a string array. The elements of str include the trailing space characters that padded chr.

str = string(chr)

str = 3x1 string
    "Mercury"
    "Apollo "
    "ISS    "

To remove the trailing spaces, use the deblank function.

newStr = deblank(str)

newStr = 3x1 string
    "Mercury"
    "Apollo"
    "ISS"

Remove Trailing Blanks from Cell Array

Remove trailing blanks from all the character vectors in a cell array and display them.

A = {'MATLAB    ','SIMULINK    ';
     'Toolboxes    ','MathWorks    '}

A = 2x2 cell
    {'MATLAB    '   }    {'SIMULINK    ' }
    {'Toolboxes    '}    {'MathWorks    '}

B = deblank(A)

B = 2x2 cell
    {'MATLAB'   }    {'SIMULINK' }
    {'Toolboxes'}    {'MathWorks'}

Keep Trailing Nonbreaking Space Character

Create a character vector that includes the nonbreaking space character, char(160), as a trailing blank character.

chr = '     MathWorks';
chr = [chr char(160) '     '];

Display chr between | symbols to show the leading and trailing whitespace.

['|' chr '|']

ans = 
'|     MathWorks      |'

Remove the trailing whitespace characters.

newChr = deblank(chr);

Display newChr between | symbols. deblank removes the trailing space characters, but leaves the nonbreaking space at the end of newChr.

['|' newChr '|']

ans = 
'|     MathWorks |'

Input Arguments

str — Input text

string array | character array | cell array of character arrays

Input text, specified as a string array, a character array, or as a cell array of character arrays.

Algorithms

deblank does not remove significant whitespace characters.

This table shows the most common characters that are significant whitespace characters and their descriptions. For more information, see Whitespace character.

Significant Whitespace Character	Description
char(133)	Next line
char(160)	Nonbreaking space
char(8199)	Figure space
char(8239)	Narrow no-break space

Alternative Functionality

Update code that makes use of deblank to use strip instead. Unlike deblank, which only removes whitespace characters from the end of text, strip removes both leading and trailing whitespace characters. To remove only trailing whitespace characters using strip, specify the "right" option. For example:

Not Recommended	Recommended
str = " test "; newStr = deblank(str) newStr = " test"	str = " test "; newStr = strip(str,"right") newStr = " test"

Extended Capabilities

Tall Arrays

Calculate with arrays that have more rows than fit in memory.

The deblank function fully supports tall arrays. For more information, see Tall Arrays.

C/C++ Code Generation

Generate C and C++ code using MATLAB® Coder™.

Usage notes and limitations:

• Input text must be specified as a character array. Cell arrays are not supported.

• Input values must be in the range 0–127.

Thread-Based Environment

Run code in the background using MATLAB® backgroundPool or accelerate code with Parallel Computing Toolbox™ ThreadPool.

This function fully supports thread-based environments. For more information, see Run MATLAB Functions in Thread-Based Environment.

Distributed Arrays

Partition large arrays across the combined memory of your cluster using Parallel Computing Toolbox™.

Usage notes and limitations:

• str must be a string array or a cell array of character vectors.

For more information, see Run MATLAB Functions with Distributed Arrays (Parallel Computing Toolbox).

Version History

Introduced before R2006a