Python String lstrip() Method

This is a tutorial of the Python String lstrip() method. Learn to get the copy of a given string with specified leading characters removed from it.

Python String lstrip()

This method returns a new copy of the given string in which the characters specified in the argument are removed from the leading edge of the string. (From Left-hand side)

Note. By default this method removes the leading whitespaces, in case, no argument is supplied to this method. The characters to be removed has to be provided as a string containing the set of characters to be removed.

Syntax

Given below is the syntax for the Python String lstrip() method.

str.lstrip() Parameters

This method only takes a single argument and that is the chars. It is basically a string type argument that can contain a number of characters. These are the characters whose combinations you want to be removed from the leading edge of the given string on which this method is applied.

In case, this argument is not passed to this method, all of the leading whitespace characters will be removed by this method.

str.lstrip() Return Value

It returns the new copy of the string in which the specified leading characters will be stripped off from the given string on which this method is applied.

If you provide more than one character as the string type argument of this method, then all of the possible combinations that are possible to be created using the string characters, if existing in the leading edge of the given string will be removed or stripped until it founds the first mismatch.

Example: Basic usage of the Python String lstrip() method

Here in the following example, we’ve applied the method lstrip() on four different string to check what all characters are being removed in the returned copy of the string from the leading edge with different arguments.

string1 = "     hello,    how are you?"
#Using lstrip() without chars argument
#Leading whitespaces will be removed
print(string1.lstrip())

string2 = "yo hello world!"
#Char Argument Supplied
#No Space Character Mentioned
print(string2.lstrip('yohel'))
#Space Character Mentioned
print(string2.lstrip('yohel '))

string3 = "C, C++, Java, Python"
print(string3.lstrip('c, +'))
#Case Matters
print(string3.lstrip('C, +'))

string4 = "121213121212"
print(string4.lstrip("12"))

Output.

hello,    how are you?
 hello world!
world!
C, C++, Java, Python
Java, Python
3121212

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