Python String lstrip()

The Python String lstrip() method is a built-in function that strips leading characters based on the arguments passed to the function and returns the copy of a string.

Syntax

The Syntax of lstrip() method is:

string.lstrip([chars])

Parameters

The lstrip() method takes one parameter, and it’s optional.

• chars(optional) – set of characters representing string that needs to be removed from the left-hand side of the string. 

If the chars argument is not passed, the lstrip() function will strip whitespaces at the start of the string. 

Return Value

The lstrip() method returns a copy of the string by stripping the leading characters based on the arguments passed.

Note: 

• If we do not pass any arguments to lstrip() function, by default, all leading whitespaces are truncated from a string.
• If the string does not have any whitespaces at the beginning, the string will be returned as-is, matching the original string.
• If the characters passed in the arguments do not match the characters at the beginning of the string, it will stop removing the leading characters.

Example 1: How to use lstrip() method

# Only leading whitespaces are removed
text1 = '   Python Programming   '
print(text1.lstrip())


# Remove the whitespace and specified character at
# leading end
text2 = '       code its my code        '
print(text2.lstrip(' code'))

# Remove the specified character at 
# leading end
text3 = 'code its my code'
print(text3.lstrip('code'))

Python Programming   
its my code        
 its my code

Example 2: Python lstrip() function in actual program

In the below example, we have a list of the price in dollars. However, the dollar sign is appended at both the trailing and leading end of each element. We can simply iterate the list and remove the dollar symbol at the left-hand side using the lstrip() method is shown below.

price = ['$100$', '$200$', '$300$', '$400$', '$500$']
new_price = []
for l in price:
    new_price.append(l.lstrip('$'))

print(new_price)

Output

['100$', '200$', '300$', '400$', '500$']