what does strip mean in python code example

Example 1: python strip

# removes outside whitespace/characters
'  hey  '.strip()     # "hey"
'  hey  '.lstrip()    # "hey  "
'  hey  '.rstrip()    # "  hey"
'_.hey__'.strip('._') # "hey"

Example 2: python strip()

a = "  smurf   "

a = a.strip()
#remove space at begining and end of string
print(a)
#smurf