Create a character vector with spaces and a tab character as leading whitespace.

chr = sprintf('  \t   Remove    leading whitespace')

chr =

  	   Remove    leading whitespace

Remove the leading tab and spaces.

newChr = strtrim(chr)

newChr =

Remove    leading whitespace

strtrim removes the leading whitespace characters, but not the whitespace between other characters.

Starting in R2016b, you can create string arrays with the string function, and remove leading and trailing whitespace with the strtrim function.

str = string({'   Gemini    ','   Apollo    ';
              '   ISS       ','   Skylab    '})

str = 

  2×2 string array

    "   Gemini    "    "   Apollo    "
    "   ISS       "    "   Skylab    "

newStr = strtrim(str)

newStr = 

  2×2 string array

    "Gemini"    "Apollo"
    "ISS"       "Skylab"

Remove the leading and trailing whitespace from all the character vectors in a cell array and display them.

chr = {'     Trim leading whitespace';
       'Trim trailing whitespace     '}

chr =

  2×1 cell array

    '     Trim leading whitespace'
    'Trim trailing whitespace     '

newChr = strtrim(chr)

newChr =

  2×1 cell array

    'Trim leading whitespace'
    'Trim trailing whitespace'

Create a character vector that includes the nonbreaking space character, char(160), as a trailing whitespace character.

chr = '     Keep nonbreaking space';
chr = [chr char(160) '     '];

Display chr between | symbols to show the leading and trailing whitespace.

['|' chr '|']

ans =

|     Keep nonbreaking space      |

Remove the leading and trailing whitespace characters.

newChr = strtrim(chr);

Display newChr between | symbols. strtrim removes the space characters but leaves the nonbreaking space at the end of newChr.

['|' newChr '|']

ans =

|Keep nonbreaking space |