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# numpy.core.defchararray.lstrip

`numpy.core.defchararray.``lstrip`(a, chars=None)

  For each element in a, return a copy with the leading characters removed.

  Calls str.lstrip element-wise.

  Parameters : | a : array-like, {str, unicode} Input array. chars : {str, unicode}, optional The chars argument is a string specifying the set of characters to be removed. If omitted or None, the chars argument defaults to removing whitespace. The chars argument is not a prefix; rather, all combinations of its values are stripped.
  Returns : | out : ndarray, {str, unicode} Output array of str or unicode, depending on input type

  See also

  `str.lstrip`

  Examples

      >>> c = np.array(['aAaAaA', '  aA  ', 'abBABba'])
      >>> c
      array(['aAaAaA', '  aA  ', 'abBABba'],
          dtype='|S7')

  The ‘a’ variable is unstripped from c[1] because whitespace leading.

      >>> np.char.lstrip(c, 'a')
      array(['AaAaA', '  aA  ', 'bBABba'],
          dtype='|S7')

      >>> np.char.lstrip(c, 'A') # leaves c unchanged
      array(['aAaAaA', '  aA  ', 'abBABba'],
          dtype='|S7')
      >>> (np.char.lstrip(c, ' ') == np.char.lstrip(c, '')).all()
      ... # XXX: is this a regression? this line now returns False
      ... # np.char.lstrip(c,'') does not modify c at all.
      True
      >>> (np.char.lstrip(c, ' ') == np.char.lstrip(c, None)).all()
      True