Character Stripping Functions

Function	Effect	Example
strip_chars	Strips the specified character from the field. This is useful for stripping unwanted separator characters from fields like SSN numbers.	value = strip_chars('_', value) value = strip_chars('/', value)
strip_leading_chars	Strips leading characters of the specified type from the start of the field. This is useful for stripping leading zeros from Patient ID fields.	value = strip_leading_chars('0', value)
strip_trailing_chars	Strips trailing characters of the specified type from the end of the field.	value = strip_trailing_chars('0', value)
strip_non_numeric_chars	Strips non-numeric characters.	value = strip_non_numeric_chars(value)

Python also provides built-in functions that strip characters:

The re.sub function can strip a specified character or all non-numeric characters from a field. For more information on re.sub, see Substitution Using Pattern Matching.
The lstrip and rstrip functions can strip unwanted leading and trailing characters from a field. For details, see Editing a String.

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