Remove leading and trailing whitespace from a string

Summary

The trim macro removes leading and trailing whitespace from a string. It uses Java’s String.trim() method, which removes spaces, tabs, newlines, and other whitespace characters.

Syntax 

${trim;<string>}

Parameters

  • string - The string to trim

Behavior

  • Removes leading whitespace characters
  • Removes trailing whitespace characters
  • Returns the trimmed string
  • Preserves whitespace within the string

Examples

Remove extra spaces:

${trim;  hello world  }
# Returns: "hello world"

Clean up property value:

cleaned.value=${trim;${some.property}}

Trim after concatenation:

${trim;${first} ${second} }

Process multiline value:

${trim;
    some value
}
# Returns: "some value"

Use Cases

  • Cleaning up user input
  • Normalizing property values
  • Removing accidental whitespace
  • Processing template output
  • Formatting string values
  • Preparing strings for comparison

Notes

  • Only removes leading and trailing whitespace
  • Internal whitespace is preserved
  • Whitespace includes spaces, tabs, newlines, etc.
  • Uses Java’s definition of whitespace
  • Empty string after trim remains empty

See test cases in MacroTestsForDocsExamples.java