ltrim()

The ltrim() function accepts a string as its parameter, removes whitespace from the left side of that string, and then returns it.

Optionally, ltrim() can accept a second parameter containing specific characters to remove from the left side of a target string.

Syntax

ltrim($string, $characters);

The $string parameter gives the function a target string to remove whitespace or specific characters from.

The $characters parameter is an optional string that specifies characters the function should remove. ltrim() will start at the left side of the string and remove any characters that match the ones provided in the $characters argument until it finds one that does not match.

Codebyte Example

The following example demonstrates the ltrim() function with both one and two arguments.

Code
Output
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The second argument, in the second call of the function, removed the characters H, e, y, o, and the single space. It left the rest of the string starting from the character M because it wasn’t instructed by the second argument to remove that character.