Perl trim function...

    # Perl trim function to remove whitespace from the start and end of the string
    sub trim($)
    {
        my $string = shift;
        $string =~ s/^\s+//;
        $string =~ s/\s+$//;
        return $string;
    }

    # Left trim function to remove leading whitespace
    sub ltrim($)
    {
        my $string = shift;
        $string =~ s/^\s+//;
        return $string;
    }

    # Right trim function to remove trailing whitespace
    sub rtrim($)
    {
        my $string = shift;
        $string =~ s/\s+$//;
        return $string;
    }