How do I count the number of spaces at the left end of a string?

[Daniel Nogradi]

> I don't know exactly what the first non-space character is. I know the
> first non-space character will be  * or an alphanumeric character.

How about:

>>> mystring = '    ksjfkfjkfjds   '
>>> print len( mystring ) - len( mystring.lstrip( ) )
4


HTH,
Daniel