Let's define a variable containing leading, trailing, and intermediate whitespace:
FOO=' test test test '
echo -e "FOO='${FOO}'"
# > FOO=' test test test '
echo -e "length(FOO)==${#FOO}"
# > length(FOO)==16
How to remove all whitespace (denoted by [:space:] in tr):
FOO=' test test test '
FOO_NO_WHITESPACE="$(echo -e "${FOO}" | tr -d '[:space:]')"
echo -e "FOO_NO_WHITESPACE='${FOO_NO_WHITESPACE}'"
# > FOO_NO_WHITESPACE='testtesttest'
echo -e "length(FOO_NO_WHITESPACE)==${#FOO_NO_WHITESPACE}"
# > length(FOO_NO_WHITESPACE)==12
How to remove leading whitespace only:
FOO=' test test test '
FOO_NO_LEAD_SPACE="$(echo -e "${FOO}" | sed -e 's/^[[:space:]]*//')"
echo -e "FOO_NO_LEAD_SPACE='${FOO_NO_LEAD_SPACE}'"
# > FOO_NO_LEAD_SPACE='test test test '
echo -e "length(FOO_NO_LEAD_SPACE)==${#FOO_NO_LEAD_SPACE}"
# > length(FOO_NO_LEAD_SPACE)==15
How to remove trailing whitespace only:
FOO=' test test test '
FOO_NO_TRAIL_SPACE="$(echo -e "${FOO}" | sed -e 's/[[:space:]]*$//')"
echo -e "FOO_NO_TRAIL_SPACE='${FOO_NO_TRAIL_SPACE}'"
# > FOO_NO_TRAIL_SPACE=' test test test'
echo -e "length(FOO_NO_TRAIL_SPACE)==${#FOO_NO_TRAIL_SPACE}"
# > length(FOO_NO_TRAIL_SPACE)==15
How to remove both leading and trailing spaces--chain the seds:
FOO=' test test test '
FOO_NO_EXTERNAL_SPACE="$(echo -e "${FOO}" | sed -e 's/^[[:space:]]*//' -e 's/[[:space:]]*$//')"
echo -e "FOO_NO_EXTERNAL_SPACE='${FOO_NO_EXTERNAL_SPACE}'"
# > FOO_NO_EXTERNAL_SPACE='test test test'
echo -e "length(FOO_NO_EXTERNAL_SPACE)==${#FOO_NO_EXTERNAL_SPACE}"
# > length(FOO_NO_EXTERNAL_SPACE)==14
Alternatively, if your bash supports it, you can replace echo -e "${FOO}" | sed ... with sed ... <<<${FOO}, like so (for trailing whitespace):
FOO_NO_TRAIL_SPACE="$(sed -e 's/[[:space:]]*$//' <<<${FOO})"