for col in fromdatatable:
fromdatatable[col] = fromdatatable[col].str.strip('þ') #remove þ from each column
#fromdatatable[col] = fromdatatable[col].apply(lambda x: x.strip('þ')) #remove þ from each column
#fromdatatable[col] = fromdatatable[col].apply(lambda x: x[1:-1]) #remove first and last characters from each column