The below queries will remove all spaces, tabs characters, new line characters first and last space(s) from the table column. For replace all spaces : UPDATE `table` SET `col_name` = REPLACE(`col_name`, ' ', '') For remove all tabs characters : UPDATE `table` SET `col_name` = REPLACE(`col_name`, '\t', '' ) For remove all new line characters : UPDATE `table` SET `col_name` = REPLACE(`col_name`, '\n', '') http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/string-functions.html#function_replace For remove first and last space(s) of column : UPDATE `table` SET `col_name` = TRIM(`col_name`) http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/string-functions.html#function_trim