Remove spaces from user input string in Python

Question

how can I remove whitespaces from within a user input string? Can't I use .replace(" ","")? it didn't work for me.
My code:

>>>p=raw_input ("Enter phrase:\n")    
>>>p.replace(" "."")

It still outputs user input phrase WITH spaces..what am I doing wrong?Please help.

1. It is a `,` (comma) and not a `.` (period) that separates the arguments to the function 2. `str.replace` is not inplace. You need to assign it back — Bhargav Rao, May 21 '15 at 17:11
Possible duplicate of http://stackoverflow.com/questions/9189172/why-doesnt-calling-a-python-string-method-do-anything-unless-you-assign-its-out — Bhargav Rao, May 21 '15 at 17:15

score 8 · Accepted Answer · answered May 21 '15 at 17:12

8

since strings are immutable in python, str.replace returns a new string, it does not modify the existing string

p = p.replace(" ","")

answered May 21 '15 at 17:12

Joran Beasley

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered May 21 '15 at 17:12

3

You can use replace, but you have to assign its return to the variable

>>>p=raw_input ("Enter phrase:\n")

>>>p=p.replace(" ","")

answered May 21 '15 at 17:12

rafaelc

2 Answers2