# TRIM

Removes padding from the ends of the given string.

## Syntax

```sql
TRIM ([[BOTH | LEADING | TRAILING] [padding] FROM] str)

```

## Arguments

* padding: any string or binary object (optional, defaults to " ")
* str: any string or binary object

If no keyword is specified, defaults to `BOTH`.

## Return Type

String or binary

## Remarks

`TRIM` is now multibyte-safe. This means if `str` is a string, then the result of an operation is either valid string (if `padding` is valid in collation of `str`) or is an unmodified `str`.

## Examples

> **📝 Note**: This function removes only space " " characters. Other whitespace characters like tab `\t`, newline `\n`, etc are preserved.

```sql
SELECT TRIM('    ohai     ') AS t,
  TRIM(LEADING FROM '    ohai     ') AS l,
  TRIM(TRAILING FROM '    ohai     ') AS r;

```

```output

+------+-----------+----------+
| t    | l         | r        |
+------+-----------+----------+
| ohai | ohai      |     ohai |
+------+-----------+----------+

```

```sql
SELECT TRIM("abra" FROM "abracadabra") AS t;

```

```output

+------+
| t    |
+------+
| cad  |
+------+
```

utf8\_general\_ci is the default `collation_server` setting. The results in the following examples will behave differently if a different collation set is selected.

```sql
SELECT @@collation_server;

```

```output

+--------------------+ 
|@@collation_server  |
+--------------------+
| utf8_general_ci    |
+--------------------+

```

```sql
SELECT HEX("Ā敥");

```

```output

+--------------+
| HEX("Ā敥")   |
+--------------+
| C480E695A5   |
+--------------+
```

0xc4 is an invalid string in utf8\_general\_ci encoding, so the string isn't modified.

```sql
SELECT TRIM(0xc4 from "Ā敥");

```

```output

+-------------------------+
| TRIM(0xc4 from "Ā敥")   |
+-------------------------+
| Ā敥                     |
+-------------------------+
```

0xc480 is encoding on Ā in utf8\_general\_ci, so string is trimmed:

```sql
SELECT TRIM(0xc480 from "Ā敥");

```

```output

+---------------------------+
| TRIM(0xc480 from "Ā敥")   |
+---------------------------+
| 敥                        |
+---------------------------+
```

0xc480e6 is invalid in utf8\_general\_ci, so the string stays as-is:

```sql
SELECT TRIM(0xc480e6 from "Ā敥");

```

```output

+-----------------------------+
| TRIM(0xc480e6 from "Ā敥")   |
+-----------------------------+
| Ā敥                         |
+-----------------------------+
```

For characters having 4-byte encoding like emojis when character\_server is utf8, explicitly cast string literal to utf8mb4\_\* collation.

```sql
SELECT HEX("😀") as HEX, TRIM(0xf0 from "😀" :> char(20) COLLATE utf8mb4_general_ci) as TRIM;

```

```output

+----------+------+
| HEX      | TRIM |
+----------+------+
| F09F9880 | 😀   |
+----------+------+
```

> **⚠️ Warning**: ## Implicit CollationWhen `character_set_server` is set to `utf8`, string literals with characters using 4-byte encoding are implicitly assigned binary collation and processed as a sequence of bytes rather than characters. This implicit conversion to binary collation causes string functions to return unexpected results. To avoid using implicit binary collation, either use explicit type casting or use database columns defined with the `utf8mb4` character set. For more information, refer to [Implicit Collation in Special Cases](https://docs.singlestore.com/cloud/reference/sql-reference/character-encoding/special-cases.md).

## Related Topics

* [LTRIM](https://docs.singlestore.com/cloud/reference/sql-reference/string-functions/ltrim.md)
* [RTRIM](https://docs.singlestore.com/cloud/reference/sql-reference/string-functions/rtrim.md)

***

Modified at: May 29, 2025

Source: [/cloud/reference/sql-reference/string-functions/trim/](https://docs.singlestore.com/cloud/reference/sql-reference/string-functions/trim/)

(An index of the documentation is available at /llms.txt)