Remove leading and trailing zeros from a list

Question

This functions and gives the desired result:

{1, 0, 2, 0, 0} /. {x___, 0 ...} :> {x}

{1, 0, 2}

But with leading zeros it doesn't:

{0, 0, 1, 0, 2} /. {0 ..., x___} :> {x}

{0, 0, 1, 0, 2}

Why is that so? Is there a workaround?

Answer 1

From the docs of Longest:

The default is to have earlier patterns match shortest sequences

Therefore, use Longest for the zeros:

{0, 0, 1, 0, 2} /. {Longest[0 ...], x___} :> {x}

{1, 0, 2}

Answer 2

Considering the efficiency,I will not use Pattern Match,this recommand a function Internal`DeleteTrailingZeros,which is intend to delete those zeros in tail.As your case:

Reverse[Internal`DeleteTrailingZeros[Reverse[{0, 0, 1, 0, 2}]]]

{1, 0, 2}

Answer 3

a slight modification of the accepted answer:

{0, 0, 1, 0, 2, 0, 0} /. {Longest[0 ...], x___, 0 ...} :> {x} (* works with both leading and trailing zeros *)