How do I count the number of spaces at the left end of a string?

[walterbyrd]

I don't know exactly what the first non-space character is. I know the
first non-space character will be * or an alphanumeric character.

 

[Daniel Nogradi]

I don't know exactly what the first non-space character is. I know the

first non-space character will be * or an alphanumeric character.

How about:
4


HTH,
Daniel

 

[James Stroud]

I don't know exactly what the first non-space character is. I know the
first non-space character will be * or an alphanumeric character.

This is another of the hundreds of ways:

py> for i,c in enumerate(astring):
.... if c != ' ': break
....
py> print i

 

[Steven Howe]

I don't know exactly what the first non-space character is. I know the
first non-space character will be * or an alphanumeric character.

using builtin function rindex
st = 'asblde '
sph

 

[Asun Friere]

using builtin function rindex

But only if there is a guarantee that are spaces nowhere else in the
string:

a = ' abc'
print a.rindex(' ') + 1
=> 4

Good, but ...

b = ' ab c'
b.rindex(' ') + 1
=> 7
Ouch!

The difference method suggested by Daniel Nogradi, seems the most
obvious way.

len(b) - len(b.lstrip())
=> 4

Asun