Pandas: How to Strip Whitespace from Columns

You can use the following methods to strip whitespace from columns in a pandas DataFrame:

Method 1: Strip Whitespace from One Column

df['my_column'] = df['my_column'].str.strip()

Method 2: Strip Whitespace from All String Columns

df = df.apply(lambda x: x.str.strip() if x.dtype == 'object' else x)

The following examples show how to use each method in practice with the following pandas DataFrame:

import pandas as pd

#create DataFrame
df = pd.DataFrame({'team': ['Mavs', ' Heat', ' Nets ', 'Cavs', 'Hawks', 'Jazz '],
                   'position': ['Point Guard', ' Small Forward', 'Center  ',
                                'Power Forward', ' Point Guard ', 'Center'],
                   'points': [11, 8, 10, 6, 22, 29]})

#view DataFrame
print(df)

     team        position  points
0    Mavs     Point Guard      11
1    Heat   Small Forward       8
2   Nets         Center        10
3    Cavs   Power Forward       6
4   Hawks    Point Guard       22
5   Jazz           Center      29

Example 1: Strip Whitespace from One Column

The following code shows how to strip whitespace from every string in the position column:

#strip whitespace from position column
df['position'] = df['position'].str.strip()

#view updated DataFrame
print(df)

     team       position  points
0    Mavs    Point Guard      11
1    Heat  Small Forward       8
2   Nets          Center      10
3    Cavs  Power Forward       6
4   Hawks    Point Guard      22
5   Jazz          Center      29

Notice that all whitespace has been stripped from each string that had whitespace in the position column.

Example 2: Strip Whitespace from All String Columns

The following code shows how to strip whitespace from each string in all string columns of the DataFrame:

#strip whitespace from all string columns
df = df.apply(lambda x: x.str.strip() if x.dtype == 'object' else x)

#view updated DataFrame
print(df)

    team       position  points
0   Mavs    Point Guard      11
1   Heat  Small Forward       8
2   Nets         Center      10
3   Cavs  Power Forward       6
4  Hawks    Point Guard      22
5   Jazz         Center      29

Notice that all whitespace has been stripped from both the team and position columns, which are the two string columns in the DataFrame.