How do I remove trailing whitespace from all lines?

Explanation

The :%s/\s\+$// command removes trailing whitespace (spaces and tabs) from every line in the file.

How it works

• % applies to all lines
• \s\+ matches one or more whitespace characters
• $ anchors to end of line
• The empty replacement // deletes the matched whitespace

Example

hello   
world  
foo

After :%s/\s\+$//:

hello
world
foo

Tips

• Add e flag to suppress error when no match: :%s/\s\+$//e
• Create an autocommand to do this on save
• :set list with listchars shows trailing whitespace visually
• Many linters flag trailing whitespace as a style issue