How to remove space in a string in MATLAB?

Last Updated : 05 Aug, 2021

In this article, we are going to discuss how to remove space from a string in MATLAB with the help of isspace(), find(), strrep(), and regexprep() functions.

Using isspace()

The isspace() function is used to identify elements that are ASCII white spaces. isspace('string') is used to find the white spaces present in the specified 'string'.

Syntax:

isspace('string')

Example 1:

Matlab

% MATLAB code for Space removal in 
% string using isspace()
% Initializing a string
String = 'G F G';

% Calling the find() function 
% along with isspace() function 
% over the above string to remove
% the white spaces
New_String = String(find(~isspace(String)))

Output:

New_String = GFG

Example 2:

Matlab

% MATLAB code for replacing space with
% null using the
% isspace() function 

% Initializing a string
String = 'G e e k s f o r G e e k s';
String(isspace(String)) = []

Output:

String = GeeksforGeeks

Using strrep()

The strrep() function is used to find and replace substrings. strrep(string1, string2, string3) is used to replace all occurrences of the string 'string2' within string 'string1' with the string 'string3'.

Syntax:

strrep(string1, string2, string3)

Example:

Matlab

% MATLAB code for space removal in 
% string using strrep( )
% Initializing a string
String = 'G e e k s f o r G e e k s';

% Replacing space with null using the
% strrep() function over the above string
New_String = strrep(String,' ','')

Output:

New_String = GeeksforGeeks

Using regexprep()

The regexprep() function is used to replace text using regular expressions.

Syntax:

regexprep(str, expression, replace)

Example:

Matlab

% MATLAB code for regexprep method 
% for string space removal
% Initializing a string
String = 'G e e k s f o r G e e k s';

% Replacing space with null using the
% regexprep() function over the above string
New_String = regexprep(String, '\s+', '')

Output:

New_String = GeeksforGeeks

Using deblank()

The deblank() function is used to remove the trailing whitespace or tab characters and null characters from the specified string and returns the result without the trailing whitespace.

Syntax:

deblank(string)

Parameters: This function accepts a parameter which is illustrated below:

string: This is the specified string with whitespace or tab characters.

Return values: It returns a new string without trailing whitespace or tab characters.

Example 1:

Matlab

% MATLAB code for space remove in string
% using deblack()
% Specifying a string 'gfg'
% along with a tab and
% whitespace character
String = sprintf('\t gfg \t');

% Adding '|' character to the
% above string
['|' String '|']

% Calling the deblack() over
% above string to remove
% tab and whitespace characters
New_String = deblank(String);

% Getting the specified string
% without trailing tab and whitespace
['|' New_String '|']

Output:

ans = |  gfg  |
ans = |  gfg|

Example 2

Matlab

% MATLAB code for convert character array
% into string then remove space
% Specifying a character array with
% space and tab character
char = ['gfg';
         'GFG ';
         'GeeksforGeeks    '];
         
% Converting the above character array into 
% string
String = string(char);

% Calling the deblank() over
% above string to remove
% tab and whitespace characters
New_String = deblank(String)

Output:

New_String =
"gfg"    
"GFG"    
"GeeksforGeeks"

Using strtrim()

The strtrim() function is used to remove leading and trailing whitespace characters from the specified string and returns the result as a new string without any leading and trailing whitespaces.

Syntax:

strtrim(string)

Parameters: This function accepts a parameter which is illustrated below:

string: This is the specified string with leading and trailing whitespace or tab characters.

Return values: It returns a new string without trailing or leading whitespace or tab characters.

Example 1:

Matlab

% Specifying a string 'gfg'
% along with a tab and
% whitespace character
String = sprintf('\t gfg \t');

% Adding '|' character to the
% above string
['|' String '|']

% Calling the strtrim() function over
% above string to remove leading and 
% trailing tab and whitespace characters
New_String = strtrim(String);

% Getting the specified string
% without leading and trailing tab and
% whitespace
['|' New_String '|']

Output:

ans = |  gfg  |
ans = |gfg|

Example 2:

Matlab

% MATLAB code for strrim()
% Specifying a character array with
% space and tab character
char = [' gfg';
        ' GFG ';
        '   GeeksforGeeks    '];

% Converting the above character array
% into string
String = string(char);

% Calling the strtrim() over
% above string to remove leading and
% trailing tab and whitespace characters
New_String = strtrim(String)

Output:

New_String =
"gfg"    
"GFG"    
"GeeksforGeeks"

Using erase()

The erase(string, match) function is used to remove all occurrences of the specified match in the given string and returns the remaining text.

Syntax:

erase(string, match)

Parameters: This function accepts two parameters, which are illustrated below:

string: This is the specified string from which the match is going to be removed.
match: This is the specified match.

Return values: It returns a new string as the remaining text without the matching part.

Example 1:

Matlab

% MATLAB code for space removal 
% in string using  erase() 
% Initializing a string array
A = ["gfg - GFG"]

% Calling the erase() function
% over the above string array
B = erase(A, " ")

Output:

A = gfg - GFG
B = gfg-GFG

Using relational operator

Now, let's see two different methods for space removal by using relational operators and the concept of the null space. Here we use equality (== ) and inequality (~=) relational operators. Relational operators compare operands quantitatively, using different operators.

Example 1:

Matlab

% MATLAB code for space removal in string
% using equality operator
% Initializing a string
String = 'G e e k s f o r G e e k s';

% Changing the above String by setting
% locations with spaces equal to null
String(String == ' ') = []

Output:

String = GeeksforGeeks

Example 2: