Benchmark: timing 100000 iterations of my_long_one, one_liner, two_liner... my_long_one: 6 wallclock secs ( 4.62 usr + 0.00 sys = 4.62 CPU) @ 21659.09/s (n=100000) one_liner: 3 wallclock secs ( 3.89 usr + 0.00 sys = 3.89 CPU) @ 25673.94/s (n=100000) two_liner: 1 wallclock secs ( 2.16 usr + 0.00 sys = 2.16 CPU) @ 46210.72/s (n=100000) Using my_long_one => s/^[\s]*(.*)(? s/^\s+|\s+$//g two_liner => s/^\s+//g; s/s+$//g