What is the string.lstrip method in Python?

The lstrip method will remove a set of leading characters in a string and return a new string.

Syntax

string.lstrip([chars_to_remove])

The lstrip method will loop through all the characters of a string and check if the current character of the string is present in the passed chars_to_remove.

• If the current character is present in the chars_to_remove, then that character will be removed.

• If the current character is not present, then the looping is stopped.

Parameter

chars: This is the set of characters to be removed from the leading position (start) of the string. It is an optional argument. By default, the leading spaces are removed.

Return value

A new string in which the passed set of characters are removed.

Examples

Example 1

string = "   space at the start is removed      ";
string.lstrip();

In the code above, we have a string with whitespace at the start and end. When we call the lstrip method without a argument, the space at the beginning of the string is removed.

Example 2

string = "space set";
string.lstrip("s"); #pace set

In the code above, we have a space set string and call the lstrip('s') method. The lstrip method will loop the string space set:

• First char: s is present in the passed argument, so it is removed from the string.

• Second char: p is not present in the passed argument, so looping is stopped and the string pace set is returned.

Example 3

string = "ss sports";
string.lstrip("s ");

In the code above, we have an ss sports string and call the lstrip('s ') method. The lstrip method will loop the string ss sports:

• First character: s is present in the passed argument, so it is removed from the string. Now the result string is s sports.

• Second character: s is present in the passed argument, so it is removed from the string. Now the result string is ' sports'.

• Third character: whitespace is present in the passed argument, so it is removed from the string. Now the result string is sports.

• Fourth character: s is present in the passed argument, so it is removed from the string. Now the result string is ports.

• Fifth character: p is not present in the passed argument, so looping is removed. The result string ports is returned.