diff --git a/crates/jrsonnet-evaluator/src/arr/mod.rs b/crates/jrsonnet-evaluator/src/arr/mod.rs
index 7aefaa48..05e929a0 100644
--- a/crates/jrsonnet-evaluator/src/arr/mod.rs
+++ b/crates/jrsonnet-evaluator/src/arr/mod.rs
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ pub use spec::{ArrayLike, *};
 
 /// Represents a Jsonnet array value.
 #[derive(Debug, Clone, Trace)]
-// may contrain other ArrValue
+// may contain other ArrValue
 #[trace(tracking(force))]
 pub struct ArrValue(Cc<TraceBox<dyn ArrayLike>>);
 
diff --git a/crates/jrsonnet-evaluator/src/val.rs b/crates/jrsonnet-evaluator/src/val.rs
index d0a42cc1..28810a96 100644
--- a/crates/jrsonnet-evaluator/src/val.rs
+++ b/crates/jrsonnet-evaluator/src/val.rs
@@ -220,6 +220,13 @@ pub enum IndexableVal {
 	Arr(ArrValue),
 }
 impl IndexableVal {
+	pub fn empty(&self) -> bool {
+		match self {
+			Self::Str(s) => s.is_empty(),
+			Self::Arr(s) => s.is_empty(),
+		}
+	}
+
 	pub fn to_array(self) -> ArrValue {
 		match self {
 			Self::Str(s) => ArrValue::chars(s.chars()),
diff --git a/crates/jrsonnet-stdlib/src/lib.rs b/crates/jrsonnet-stdlib/src/lib.rs
index 99333fc3..a608c037 100644
--- a/crates/jrsonnet-stdlib/src/lib.rs
+++ b/crates/jrsonnet-stdlib/src/lib.rs
@@ -201,6 +201,9 @@ pub fn stdlib_uncached(settings: Rc<RefCell<Settings>>) -> ObjValue {
 		("parseOctal", builtin_parse_octal::INST),
 		("parseHex", builtin_parse_hex::INST),
 		("stringChars", builtin_string_chars::INST),
+		("lstripChars", builtin_lstrip_chars::INST),
+		("rstripChars", builtin_rstrip_chars::INST),
+		("stripChars", builtin_strip_chars::INST),
 		// Misc
 		("length", builtin_length::INST),
 		("get", builtin_get::INST),
diff --git a/crates/jrsonnet-stdlib/src/std.jsonnet b/crates/jrsonnet-stdlib/src/std.jsonnet
index 6f793848..020b69b2 100644
--- a/crates/jrsonnet-stdlib/src/std.jsonnet
+++ b/crates/jrsonnet-stdlib/src/std.jsonnet
@@ -3,22 +3,6 @@
 
   thisFile:: error 'std.thisFile is deprecated, to enable its support in jrsonnet - recompile it with "legacy-this-file" support.\nThis will slow down stdlib caching a bit, though',
 
-  lstripChars(str, chars)::
-    if std.length(str) > 0 && std.member(chars, str[0]) then
-      std.lstripChars(str[1:], chars)
-    else
-      str,
-
-  rstripChars(str, chars)::
-    local len = std.length(str);
-    if len > 0 && std.member(chars, str[len - 1]) then
-      std.rstripChars(str[:len - 1], chars)
-    else
-      str,
-
-  stripChars(str, chars)::
-    std.lstripChars(std.rstripChars(str, chars), chars),
-
   mapWithIndex(func, arr)::
     if !std.isFunction(func) then
       error ('std.mapWithIndex first param must be function, got ' + std.type(func))
diff --git a/crates/jrsonnet-stdlib/src/strings.rs b/crates/jrsonnet-stdlib/src/strings.rs
index 39a2281b..c9ec5b1c 100644
--- a/crates/jrsonnet-stdlib/src/strings.rs
+++ b/crates/jrsonnet-stdlib/src/strings.rs
@@ -1,9 +1,11 @@
+use std::{collections::BTreeSet, str::pattern::Pattern};
+
 use jrsonnet_evaluator::{
 	bail,
 	error::{ErrorKind::*, Result},
 	function::builtin,
 	typed::{Either2, M1},
-	val::ArrValue,
+	val::{ArrValue, IndexableVal},
 	Either, IStr, Val,
 };
 
@@ -215,6 +217,53 @@ pub fn builtin_bigint(v: Either![f64, IStr]) -> Result<Val> {
 	})
 }
 
+#[builtin]
+pub fn builtin_string_chars(str: IStr) -> ArrValue {
+	ArrValue::chars(str.chars())
+}
+
+#[builtin]
+pub fn builtin_lstrip_chars(str: IStr, chars: IndexableVal) -> Result<IStr> {
+	if str.is_empty() || chars.empty() {
+		return str;
+	}
+
+	let pattern = new_trim_pattern(chars)?;
+	str.as_str().trim_start_matches(pattern).into()
+}
+
+#[builtin]
+pub fn builtin_rstrip_chars(str: IStr, chars: IndexableVal) -> Result<IStr> {
+	if str.is_empty() || chars.empty() {
+		return str;
+	}
+
+	let pattern = new_trim_pattern(chars)?;
+	str.as_str().trim_start_matches(pattern).into()
+}
+
+#[builtin]
+pub fn builtin_strip_chars(str: IStr, chars: IndexableVal) -> Result<IStr> {
+	if str.is_empty() || chars.empty() {
+		return str;
+	}
+
+	let pattern = new_trim_pattern(chars)?;
+	str.as_str().trim_start_matches(pattern).into()
+}
+
+fn new_trim_pattern(chars: IndexableVal) -> Result<impl Fn(char) -> bool> {
+	let chars: BTreeSet<char> = match chars {
+		IndexableVal::Str(chars) => chars.chars().collect(),
+		IndexableVal::Arr(chars) => chars
+			.iter()
+			.filter_map(|it| it.map(|it| it.as_str()).transpose())
+			.collect()?,
+	};
+
+	Ok(|char| chars.contains(&char))
+}
+
 #[cfg(test)]
 mod tests {
 	use super::*;
@@ -243,8 +292,3 @@ mod tests {
 		assert_eq!(parse_nat::<16>("BbC").unwrap(), 0xBBC as f64);
 	}
 }
-
-#[builtin]
-pub fn builtin_string_chars(str: IStr) -> ArrValue {
-	ArrValue::chars(str.chars())
-}