trim ↗

Use the trim() function to remove specified characters or whitespace from the beginning and end of a given string.

Syntax

trim (<string>, [trim_characters])

Parameters

Name Type Required Description
string string Yes The input string field or literal value to be trimmed.
trim_characters string No A string containing the characters you want to remove. If this parameter is omitted, the function will remove whitespace characters (spaces and tabs).

Returns

The trim() function returns a string with the specified characters or whitespace removed from both the start and end.

Usage notes

  • The function removes characters from both the beginning (left) and end (right) of the string.
  • If trim_characters is not provided, the function defaults to removing leading and trailing spaces and tabs.
  • The function is versatile for cleaning and standardizing string data within queries.

Examples

Example 1: Removing leading and trailing whitespace (default behavior)

Goal: Remove spaces from both ends of a literal string where no specific characters are defined.

XQL code:

config timeframe = 1d 
| dataset = sample_xql_raw 
| alter original_string = "   User login successful   " 
| alter trimmed_string = trim(original_string) 
| fields event_id, original_string, trimmed_string 
| limit 1

Explanation: The query detects and removes the leading and trailing spaces from the original_string, resulting in a clean string "User login successful".

Output:

EVENT_ID ORIGINAL_STRING TRIMMED_STRING
101 " User login successful " "User login successful"

Example 2: Removing specific characters from both ends

Goal: Remove explicit characters ("w") from both ends of the dst_domain string.

XQL code:

config timeframe = 1d 
| dataset = sample_xql_raw 
| filter event_id = 103 
| alter domain_without_w = trim(dst_domain, "w")
| fields event_id, dst_domain, domain_without_w

Explanation: The function removes all leading and trailing 'w' characters from the dst_domain string (for example, "www.google.com" becomes ".google.com").

Output:

EVENT_ID DST_DOMAIN DOMAIN_WITHOUT_W
103 "www.google.com" ".google.com"

Example 3: Removing multiple specific characters

Goal: Remove a set of explicit characters ("w", "m", and ".") from both ends of the dst_domain string.

XQL code:

config timeframe = 1d 
| dataset = sample_xql_raw 
| filter event_id = 110 
| alter domain_without_w_m_period = trim(dst_domain, "wm.")
| fields event_id, dst_domain, domain_without_w_m_period

Explanation: The function removes all occurrences of 'w', 'm', and '.' characters found at the start or end of the string. For "www.mongodb.com", the leading "www." and the trailing "m" are removed, leaving "ongodb.co".

Output:

EVENT_ID DST_DOMAIN DOMAIN_WITHOUT_W_M_PERIOD
110 "www.mongodb.com" "ongodb.co"