#!/usr/bin/perl

use strict;
use warnings;
use List::Util qw (uniq);

sub myTrim {
    my ($str) = @_;
    my ($trimmed) = ($str =~ /\s*(.*)\s*/);
    return $trimmed;
}

my $x = "x    ";
$x = myTrim($x);

print "$x!\n"; #prints "x    !"