diff --git a/news/252.bugfix.md b/news/252.bugfix.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..79c1eb46a3603691140b04cdad5993c01782fb44
--- /dev/null
+++ b/news/252.bugfix.md
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Strip spaces in user input when prompting for the python version to use.
diff --git a/pdm/cli/actions.py b/pdm/cli/actions.py
index e9f671bb3e862e8b2e8760ec145bc46cfe29ff4a..b9e436992e1e419ad4141f184b5d37e7ba866a16 100644
--- a/pdm/cli/actions.py
+++ b/pdm/cli/actions.py
@@ -414,6 +414,7 @@ def do_use(project: Project, python: str, first: bool = False) -> None:
     """
     import pythonfinder
 
+    python = python.strip()
     if python and not all(c.isdigit() for c in python.split(".")):
         if Path(python).exists():
             python_path = find_python_in_path(python)