Michael --
>Hi,
>
>I need to trim whitespace off of a whole column and replace the existing
>values with the trimmed ones.
>
>This isn't working
>
>update mytable set id = trim(id);
>
>I'm not sure of the correct syntax. Help appreciated.
>
>Mike
>
The trim function needs to be told what sort of trim to do --
Following the 9.1 manual (you did not specify which version of postgres you are using) try:
UPDATE mytable SET id = trim(both ' ' from id).
(untested)
See <http://www.postgresql.org/docs/9.1/static/functions-string.html>
HTH,
Greg Williamson