# Remove Space from string data **URL:** \ **Category:** Ignition\ **Tags:** ignition81\ **Created:** [December 13, 2021, 7:02pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/remove-space-from-string-data/54067 "2021-12-13T19:02:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![urvishmehta92](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f475e1/32.png) [@urvishmehta92](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/urvishmehta92)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2021, 7:02pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/remove-space-from-string-data/54067/1 "2021-12-13T19:02:38Z")
Hello Everyone, I am scanning a barcode from scanner and the data I receive is a string type, Now I see the data being populated but It has a space in front of data. So first character is space and then actual characters. “1Z096V4Y0657697557” Is there a way I can get rid of those extra characters? Interestingly I see boxes here but in actual tag it’s a space. Thank you in advance. ---
**Author:** ![YF129701](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/yf129701/32/60498_2.png) [@YF129701](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/YF129701)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2021, 7:08pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/remove-space-from-string-data/54067/2 "2021-12-13T19:08:33Z")
You can use Python’s [strip](https://docs.python.org/2.7/library/stdtypes.html?highlight=strip#str.strip) function, which will remove any spaces in the string. ---
**Author:** ![urvishmehta92](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f475e1/32.png) [@urvishmehta92](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/urvishmehta92)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2021, 7:51pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/remove-space-from-string-data/54067/3 "2021-12-13T19:51:22Z")
I tried it but I think I might be doing it in a wrong manner as I don’t know python much. Let’s say I have " Hello" in tag 9. What do I write? strip(tag9) or tag9.strip() ? and the result after strip will be stored in same tag9 ? ---
**Author:** ![YF129701](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/yf129701/32/60498_2.png) [@YF129701](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/YF129701)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2021, 7:59pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/remove-space-from-string-data/54067/4 "2021-12-13T19:59:48Z")
I’m assuming `tag9` is a variable name. If that’s the case, then you can do this: ```python bar_str = tag9.strip() ``` Otherwise, you’ll first need to read in the tag value. One way you can do this is by using [`system.tag.readBlocking()`](https://docs.inductiveautomation.com/display/DOC81/system.tag.readBlocking) or `system.tag.readAsync()`. ---
**Author:** ![urvishmehta92](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f475e1/32.png) [@urvishmehta92](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/urvishmehta92)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2021, 12:44pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/remove-space-from-string-data/54067/5 "2021-12-14T12:44:33Z")
I tried the same way. I think I know why it isn’t working. It shows me space in data value but when I copy that tag in notepad or here it looks like - “1Z096V4Y0657697557”.even this website is removing those characters. I am not sure if I can upload a picture here. As you see it’s not a space, It’s a character which is not readable by tag and it’s showing space. Is there a command to delete first and last character from received string? ---
**Author:** ![lrose](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/lrose/32/62724_2.png) [@lrose](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/lrose)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2021, 12:50pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/remove-space-from-string-data/54067/6 "2021-12-14T12:50:58Z")
> [@urvishmehta92](#): > > Is there a command to delete first and last character from received string? ```auto test = 'First Character' print test[1:] test = 'Last Character' print test[:-1] ``` output ```auto >>> irst Character Last Characte >>> ``` ---
**Author:** ![urvishmehta92](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f475e1/32.png) [@urvishmehta92](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/urvishmehta92)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2021, 12:59pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/remove-space-from-string-data/54067/7 "2021-12-14T12:59:22Z")
Wow. This was big help, I tried and it works. **tag1 = system.tag.read("[default]Barcode Scanner/Barcode Scanner Data")** **tag2 = tag1.value** **print tag2** **tag3 = tag2[1:-1]** **print tag3** ---
**Author:** ![paul-griffith](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/paul-griffith/32/37249_2.png) [@paul-griffith](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/paul-griffith)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2021, 5:39pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/remove-space-from-string-data/54067/8 "2021-12-14T17:39:47Z")
Somewhat safer would be to `print repr(tag1)` (to see the explicit character code(s) used as the prefix and suffix) and then pass them to strip, as in `tag2.strip("\x01")` ---
**Author:** ![jlandwerlen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bc8723/32.png) [@jlandwerlen](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/jlandwerlen)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2021, 7:43pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/remove-space-from-string-data/54067/9 "2021-12-14T19:43:40Z")
@urvishmehta92 you can upload by clicking the upload button… ![1](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/original/3X/5/8/58ccb5ab23e06d22fecfdd0e9bd256da6aa51a6f.png) For code and formatted text attach by using preformatted text… ![2](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/original/3X/5/3/53d12a39267ec38d4753627eedd4849a0a025c30.png) ---
**Author:** ![urvishmehta92](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f475e1/32.png) [@urvishmehta92](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/urvishmehta92)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2021, 7:56pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/remove-space-from-string-data/54067/10 "2021-12-14T19:56:57Z")
OMG! I don’t know how I missed it. 🤦‍♂️ Thank you for pointing that out.