# Arghh.......Need This Feature - TRIM **URL:** \ **Category:** Feature Requests\ **Created:** [August 24, 2020, 11:54am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/arghh-need-this-feature-trim/14549 "2020-08-24T11:54:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![V88](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/v88/32/90054_2.png) [@V88](https://community.glideapps.com/u/V88)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2020, 11:54am UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/arghh-need-this-feature-trim/14549/1 "2020-08-24T11:54:46Z")
So. I have an app live with a customer. They have been reporting issues with missing data. This is not something that I see very often with Glide as it’s pretty robust. On investigation I see, in the data editor, that some of my relationships based on email address are not working correctly. I scratch my head and, after a LONG period of time, I see that some of the emails (which my users enter) have a space on the front or the end. They therefore do not match for the purpose of a Glide relationship. Hence Arghh. Don’t worry, I hear you say, just add an array formula in the sheet that trims the email to remove any leading and trailing spaces. Well I used to do that in order to lowercase the email, but Glide made this a case-insensitive match, so I could remove that array formula. Hooray. Except now I need to put it back to remove the spaces. Arghh. I have really focused to build a complex app with NO array formulas whatsoever, part in preparation for Glide native sheets, part to minimise lag (which they introduce) and part to keep as much logic as possible in Glide. So. How can I strip the spaces? I need a trim function in the Data Editor. Or the email entry field to remove leading and trailing spaces, or the Glide relationship to ignore leading and trailing spaces when matching emails. Otherwise, I’m back in “array formula” land … Arghh. Team Glide - feel my pain. Please. ---
**Author:** ![ThinhDinh](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/thinhdinh/32/49_2.png) [@ThinhDinh](https://community.glideapps.com/u/ThinhDinh)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2020, 12:06pm UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/arghh-need-this-feature-trim/14549/2 "2020-08-24T12:06:16Z")
You might be saved by the new feature in staging, Split Text. I tried it, and it does work. So I added some space before the email in the Sheet here. ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/uploads/glideapps/original/2X/3/340798ea26cd2995903d5d26033b2552c82f7501.png) I added a split by a space character. ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/uploads/glideapps/original/2X/f/f2501de800f808040684868d5f6076c22c274107.png) Then make a relation using that split column to a properly formatted email column. ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/uploads/glideapps/original/2X/e/e3f01b02a040b5b2bdb7d60edf73a01b2d12b233.png) It works. I added an EmailBasicRel using the wrongly formatted column and there’s the difference. ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/uploads/glideapps/original/2X/c/c0d53fcaab8f88b9617f1df77e2bcd34d18e5b7e.png) ---
**Author:** ![V88](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/v88/32/90054_2.png) [@V88](https://community.glideapps.com/u/V88)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2020, 12:36pm UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/arghh-need-this-feature-trim/14549/3 "2020-08-24T12:36:49Z")
Hey @ThinhDinh that looks rather promising. Do you know offhand if the “split” functionality would remove, say, 2 or 3 leading spaces? ---
**Author:** ![ThinhDinh](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/thinhdinh/32/49_2.png) [@ThinhDinh](https://community.glideapps.com/u/ThinhDinh)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2020, 12:37pm UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/arghh-need-this-feature-trim/14549/4 "2020-08-24T12:37:25Z")
Yes it will, because it separates by any space character so the resulting array would contain the right email for you. ---
**Author:** ![V88](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/v88/32/90054_2.png) [@V88](https://community.glideapps.com/u/V88)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2020, 12:39pm UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/arghh-need-this-feature-trim/14549/5 "2020-08-24T12:39:34Z")
Well then I thank you, from the depths of my heart, for keeping me “array formula free”. And I await a release date! Cheers @ThinhDinh ---
**Author:** ![ThinhDinh](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/thinhdinh/32/49_2.png) [@ThinhDinh](https://community.glideapps.com/u/ThinhDinh)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2020, 12:41pm UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/arghh-need-this-feature-trim/14549/6 "2020-08-24T12:41:25Z")
You can try that in staging as well to see if it applies to your case, my pleasure to help 😉 ---
**Author:** ![V88](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/v88/32/90054_2.png) [@V88](https://community.glideapps.com/u/V88)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2020, 12:43pm UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/arghh-need-this-feature-trim/14549/7 "2020-08-24T12:43:02Z")
Yes I will. Out at the moment but will check later. Cheers. ---
**Author:** ![Mark](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/mark/32/125_2.png) [@Mark](https://community.glideapps.com/u/Mark)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2020, 1:21pm UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/arghh-need-this-feature-trim/14549/8 "2020-08-24T13:21:08Z")
How does the space get in there in the first place? The Email entry will remove leading and trailing spaces. ---
**Author:** ![V88](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/v88/32/90054_2.png) [@V88](https://community.glideapps.com/u/V88)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2020, 2:02pm UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/arghh-need-this-feature-trim/14549/9 "2020-08-24T14:02:53Z")
Ok. Bear with @Mark … ---
**Author:** ![V88](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/v88/32/90054_2.png) [@V88](https://community.glideapps.com/u/V88)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2020, 2:08pm UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/arghh-need-this-feature-trim/14549/10 "2020-08-24T14:08:42Z")
Arghh … a have a text entry where I should have an email entry in one form submission and that is allowing the trailing space! 😳 I shall address this immediately, although I’m not sure how to now that the app has real data in it since I don’t think I can change the column type… But thanks @Mark for correcting me and @ThinhDinh whose time I have wasted … ---
**Author:** ![ThinhDinh](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/community.glideapps.com/thinhdinh/32/49_2.png) [@ThinhDinh](https://community.glideapps.com/u/ThinhDinh)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2020, 2:12pm UTC](https://community.glideapps.com/t/arghh-need-this-feature-trim/14549/11 "2020-08-24T14:12:18Z")
No worries brother, at least I know this would work in case I need it anytime in the future.