task: metadata: install: pip install -e .[dev]
patch: diff --git a/numba/cpython/unicode.py b/numba/cpython/unicode.py
index 5ef88103c..1978e603a 100644
--- a/numba/cpython/unicode.py
+++ b/numba/cpython/unicode.py
@@ -1388,24 +1388,35 @@ def unicode_zfill(string, width):
 # ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 @register_jitable
 def unicode_strip_left_bound(string, chars):
-    chars = ' ' if chars is None else chars
     str_len = len(string)
 
-    for i in range(str_len):
-        if string[i] not in chars:
-            return i
+    if chars is not None:
+        for i in range(str_len):
+            if string[i] not in chars:
+                return i
+    else:
+        for i in range(str_len):
+            if not _PyUnicode_IsSpace(string[i]):
+                return i
+
     return str_len
 
 
 @register_jitable
 def unicode_strip_right_bound(string, chars):
-    chars = ' ' if chars is None else chars
     str_len = len(string)
 
-    for i in range(str_len - 1, -1, -1):
-        if string[i] not in chars:
-            i += 1
-            break
+    if chars is not None:
+        for i in range(str_len - 1, -1, -1):
+            if string[i] not in chars:
+                i += 1
+                break
+    else:
+        for i in range(str_len - 1, -1, -1):
+            if not _PyUnicode_IsSpace(string[i]):
+                i += 1
+                break
+
     return i
 
 

problem_statement: Unicode lstrip/rstrip/strip do not handle all whitespace characters
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## Reporting a bug

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- [x] I am using the latest ~released~ master version of Numba (most recent is visible in
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 to write one see http://matthewrocklin.com/blog/work/2018/02/28/minimal-bug-reports).

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expected to happen!

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Unicode `lstrip`, `rstrip`, `strip` functions only handle space as whitespace. Other whitespace characters like `\t` are ignored:
```python
In [5]: numba.njit(lambda: '\ta'.lstrip())()                                                                                                                                                                
Out[5]: '\ta'

In [6]: '\ta'.lstrip()                                                                                                                                                                                      
Out[6]: 'a'
```
`string` library reports whitespace characters as below, but we need to look into CPython implementation.
```
In [1]: import string                                                                                                                                                                                       
In [2]: string.whitespace                                                                                                                                                                                   
Out[2]: ' \t\n\r\x0b\x0c'
```
`.strip()` not stripping `\t`.
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efficiently, please first ensure that there is no other issue present that
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## Reporting a bug

<!--

Before submitting a bug report please ensure that you can check off these boxes:

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- [x] I am using the latest released version of Numba (most recent is visible in
 the change log (https://github.com/numba/numba/blob/master/CHANGE_LOG).
- [x] I have included below a minimal working reproducer (if you are unsure how
 to write one see http://matthewrocklin.com/blog/work/2018/02/28/minimal-bug-reports).

```
>>> from numba import njit
>>> s = '  \t bbcd\t '
>>> s.strip()
'bbcd'
>>> @njit
... def foo(s):
...     return s.strip()
...
>>> foo(s)
'\t bbcd\t'
>>>

```
repo: numba/numba
test_cmd: pytest --no-header -rA --tb=line --color=no -p no:cacheprovider -W ignore::DeprecationWarning
test_patch: diff --git a/numba/tests/test_unicode.py b/numba/tests/test_unicode.py
index 286e99693..c62cc79b8 100644
--- a/numba/tests/test_unicode.py
+++ b/numba/tests/test_unicode.py
@@ -1701,7 +1701,15 @@ class TestUnicode(BaseTest):
             ('  tú quién te crees?   ', None),
             ('大处 着眼，小处着手。大大大处', '大处'),
             (' 大处大处  ', ''),
-            (' 大处大处  ', None)
+            ('\t\nabcd\t', '\ta'),
+            (' 大处大处  ', None),
+            ('\t abcd \t', None),
+            ('\n abcd \n', None),
+            ('\r abcd \r', None),
+            ('\x0b abcd \x0b', None),
+            ('\x0c abcd \x0c', None),
+            ('\u2029abcd\u205F', None),
+            ('\u0085abcd\u2009', None)
         ]
 
         # form with no parameter