How to trim a string in zsh

Trimming a string means removing any space at the beginning or end of it. It's something I need to do often when parsing the output of commands.

The easiest way I found to do it in zsh is to cast the string into an array, and back into a string with myvar="${=myVar}".

The ${=} syntax splits the string as a list of arguments (so, separated by spaces), and wrapping it in "" casts it back into a string.

One could use a similar trick by using echo " one two three " | xargs, but this would require spawning a new process.

Tags : #zsh

Want to add something ? Feel free to get in touch on Twitter : @pixelastic