Из документов Java (источник класса String),
/**
* Returns a copy of the string, with leading and trailing whitespace
* omitted.
* <p>
* If this <code>String</code> object represents an empty character
* sequence, or the first and last characters of character sequence
* represented by this <code>String</code> object both have codes
* greater than <code>'\u0020'</code> (the space character), then a
* reference to this <code>String</code> object is returned.
* <p>
* Otherwise, if there is no character with a code greater than
* <code>'\u0020'</code> in the string, then a new
* <code>String</code> object representing an empty string is created
* and returned.
* <p>
* Otherwise, let <i>k</i> be the index of the first character in the
* string whose code is greater than <code>'\u0020'</code>, and let
* <i>m</i> be the index of the last character in the string whose code
* is greater than <code>'\u0020'</code>. A new <code>String</code>
* object is created, representing the substring of this string that
* begins with the character at index <i>k</i> and ends with the
* character at index <i>m</i>-that is, the result of
* <code>this.substring(<i>k</i>, <i>m</i>+1)</code>.
* <p>
* This method may be used to trim whitespace (as defined above) from
* the beginning and end of a string.
*
* @return A copy of this string with leading and trailing white
* space removed, or this string if it has no leading or
* trailing white space.
*/
public String trim() {
int len = count;
int st = 0;
int off = offset; /* avoid getfield opcode */
char[] val = value; /* avoid getfield opcode */
while ((st < len) && (val[off + st] <= ' ')) {
st++;
}
while ((st < len) && (val[off + len - 1] <= ' ')) {
len--;
}
return ((st > 0) || (len < count)) ? substring(st, len) : this;
}
Обратите внимание, что после получения начала и длины он вызывает метод подстроки класса String.