From http://stackoverflow.com/questions/369758/how-to-trim-whitespace-from-a-bash-variable

trim-space

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)==$(echo -ne "${FOO_NO_EXTERNAL_SPACE}" | wc -m)"
# > length(FOO_NO_EXTERNAL_SPACE)==14