my @x = (" foo "," bar","quz ","x y"," a b c ","  "," ","");

s/^\s+|\s+$//g for @x;  # trim
@x = grep {$_} @x;      # drop empty entries

print "<$_>\n" for @x;
__END__
<foo>
<bar>
<quz>
<x y>
<a b c>