getting rid of white space from text using PHP

A simple thing to do, but theres a ton of ways to do it. I believe this is the best way to get rid of white space from text using PHP

[code] $sPattern = '/\s*/m';
$sReplace = '';
$bacs_end_date = preg_replace( $sPattern, $sReplace, $bacs_end_date );
$bacs_start_date = preg_replace( $sPattern, $sReplace, $bacs_start_date );[/code]