What method is used to remove whitespace from the beginning and end of a string?

The method used to remove whitespace from the beginning and end of a string in Python is strip(). This built-in string method effectively eliminates any leading or trailing whitespace characters, which can include spaces, tabs, and newline characters.

When you call strip() on a string, it returns a new string with the specified whitespace characters removed. This is particularly useful for cleaning up input data, ensuring there are no unintended spaces that might affect comparisons or further processing.

The other methods mentioned do not serve the purpose of trimming whitespace from strings. For instance, trim() is not a method available in Python's string class; it's a method found in other programming languages such as Java or JavaScript. The remove() method is used for removing specific elements from collections like lists, not for strings. Finally, clean() is not a standard string method in Python and does not perform any operation related to whitespace. Thus, strip() is the correct method to use for the specified task.