Regex To Remove Spaces Between Newlines and Content

Question

So I want to remove any spaces that lay between a new line and content.

 this

  is
    some

  content
son

          best
  believe

Should turn into:

this

is
some

content
son

best
believe

I've tried doing something like this, but it doesn't seem to do the trick:

string.replace(/^\s*/g, '');

Any ideas?

Jerry · Accepted Answer · 2013-10-01 18:18:10Z

2

Use the multiline mode:

string = string.replace(/^\s*/gm, '');

This makes ^ match the beginning of each line instead of the whole string.

answered Oct 1, 2013 at 18:18

Jerry

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1 Comment

Awesome, thanks guys! Both pretty quick! I'll accept yours since your rep is lower than @Barmar's, but thanks to both of you.

hwnd · Accepted Answer · 2013-10-01 18:26:30Z

2

You could simply do the following.

string.replace(/^ +/gm, '');

Regular expression:

^     the beginning of the string
 +    ' ' (1 or more times (matching the most amount possible))

The g modifier means global, all matches. The m modifier means multi-line. Causes ^ and $ to match the begin/end of each line.

answered Oct 1, 2013 at 18:26

hwnd

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Barmar · Accepted Answer · 2013-10-01 18:18:21Z

1

You need the m modifier so that ^ will match newlines rather than the beginning of the string:

string.replace(/^\s*/gm, '');

answered Oct 1, 2013 at 18:18

Barmar

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