How to Use the TRIM Function in Excel (7 Examples)

Introduction to the Excel TRIM Function

The Excel TRIM function is categorized under the TEXT functions. It removes the extra spaces from a text string.

Objectives

Remove all spaces from a text string except for single spaces between words.

Syntax

=TRIM (text)

Arguments Explanation

Argument	Required/Optional	Explanation
text	Required	The text string from which to eradicate unnecessary spaces

Version

The DVAR function is available from Microsoft Excel 2007.
Here, we will use Microsoft Excel 365.

Method 1 – Using the TRIM Function to Remove Extra Spaces from Left/Right

Steps:

Our example dataset contains a few movie names.

To remove these extra spaces, we need to provide the Cell Reference of the text by applying the following formula:

=TRIM(B5)

Select B5 as the Cell Reference for the first row of the Movie
Press Enter.

Using TRIM Function to Remove Extra Spaces from Left/Right in Excel

You can see the spaces between Few and Good have been eradicated (only one space remains).

Use the Fill Handle tool and drag it down from cell C5 to cell C9.

A similar formula (change in Cell Reference) will remove the spaces from the beginning, middle, and end for the rest of the rows.

Method 2: Combining TRIM and CLEAN Functions to Remove Spaces and Clean String

Steps:

We have brought the dataset of movie names and their respective release years here. Movie names and the release year are in different lines.
There are also extra spaces. To eradicate the issues and organize the data, we are going to use a function called CLEAN along with the TRIM function.
The CLEAN function converts text to be cleaned of line breaks and other non-printable characters.
For the first row, our formula will be

=TRIM(CLEAN(B5))

Press Enter.

Combining TRIM and CLEAN Functions to Remove Spaces and Clean String in Excel

You can see the spaces between the texts in cell C5 in an organized form.
Use the Fill Handle tool and drag it down from cell C5 to cell C9.

The formula provided the cleaned data, no extra spaces, and no line breaks.

Read More: How to Trim Spaces in Excel

Method 3 – Nesting Multiple Functions with TRIM to Eliminate Leading Spaces

Steps:

The area codes have spaces at the beginning as well as in between the words. We aim to remove the spaces from the beginning only.
We will use MID, FIND, and LEN functions. To learn more about these functions, visit the following articles: MID, FIND, LEN.
The formula will be:

=MID(B5,FIND(MID(TRIM(B5),1,1),B5),LEN(B5))

Press Enter.

Nesting Multiple Functions with TRIM Function to Eliminate Leading Spaces from the Right in Excel

Formula Breakdown

The combination of FIND, MID, and TRIM calculates the position of the first text character in a string.
Supply that number to the outer MID function so that it returns the entire text string starting at the position of the first text character.

You can see that there are no leading spaces available in the given image.
Use the Fill Handle tool and drag it down from cell C5 to cell C9.

You will get the final output in the image below.

Method 4 – Merging TRIM and SUBSTITUTE Functions to Remove Spaces with Concatenation

Steps:

Choose cell E5.
Enter the following formula:

=SUBSTITUTE(TRIM(B5&" "&C5&" "&D5)," ",", ")

Press Enter.

Merging TRIM and SUBSTITUTE Functions for Removing Spaces with Concatenation in Excel

Formula Breakdown

TRIM effectively removes all white space from the beginning and end of a string while leaving only one space between each word. It handles additional space brought on by blank spaces.
The SUBSTITUTE can be used to replace the space between two elements. So, each space (” “) is changed to a comma and space using the SUBSTITUTE command (“, “).

You will see here that this formula can concatenate the values in the below image.
Use the Fill Handle tool and drag it down from cell E5 to cell E9.

You will find all the texts have been concatenated with the removal of extra spaces.

Merging TRIM and SUBSTITUTE Functions for Removing Spaces with Concatenation in Excel

Method 5: Combining LEN and TRIM Functions to Count and Highlight Extra Spaces

Steps:

Select cell C5.
To find the extra spaces in the string, enter the following formula:

=LEN(B5)-LEN(TRIM(B5))

Press Enter.

Combining LEN and TRIM Functions for Counting and Highlighting Extra Spaces in Excel

Formula Breakdown

LEN function provides the length of the string. To learn more about the function, visit the LEN.
LEN(B5) provided the full length of the string of cell B5 and LEN(TRIM(B5)) provided the length after trimming. And the subtraction of these two will provide the total number of extra spaces.

You will see here that this formula can count the spaces in the image below.
Use the Fill Handle tool and drag it down from cell C5 to cell C9.

You will get all the results.

Combining LEN and TRIM Functions for Counting and Highlighting Extra Spaces in Excel

Method 6 – Incorporating the TRIM Function with LEN and SUBSTITUTE Functions for Counting Words

Steps:

Use the LEN and SUBSTITUTE functions along with TRIM.
Choose cell C5.
Enter the following formula:

=(LEN(TRIM(B5))-LEN(SUBSTITUTE(B5," ","")))+1

Press Enter.

Incorporating TRIM Function with LEN and SUBSTITUTE Functions for Counting Words in Excel

Formula Breakdown

The SUBSTITUTE function removes all spaces from the string, and then LEN calculates the length without spaces.
This number is then subtracted from the length of the text with spaces. We have used TRIM to eradicate any spaces at the beginning or end of the string.
Finally, 1 is added to the result since the number of words is the number of spaces + 1.

You will find the number of words from this string.
The same formula will provide the number of words for the rest of the texts by using the Fill Handle tool.