while (@data) {
  $data[$loop_count] =~ m{s/^\s*//}xms;
  $data[$loop_count] =~ m{s/\s*$//}xms;
  $loop_count++;
 }

##</code><code>##

for (@data) {    # remove leading/trailing whitespace
    s/^\s*//;
    s/\s*$//;
}