Python strip() not working inside a function

Question

I am trying to use strip() to trim off the space before and after a string. It works fine for

str1 = \"  abdced \"
str1.strip()

H

Answer 1

strip is not an in-place method, meaning it returns a value which must be reassigned like so:

str1 = str1.strip() # the string is reassigned to the returned stripped string