diff --git a/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/analysis/ApplyCharTypePaddingHelper.scala b/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/analysis/ApplyCharTypePaddingHelper.scala
index 26c85469e3f32..418349e465fc8 100644
--- a/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/analysis/ApplyCharTypePaddingHelper.scala
+++ b/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/analysis/ApplyCharTypePaddingHelper.scala
@@ -51,8 +51,21 @@ object ApplyCharTypePaddingHelper {
   private[sql] def readSidePadding(
       relation: LogicalPlan,
       cleanedRelation: () => LogicalPlan): (LogicalPlan, Seq[(Attribute, Attribute)]) = {
+    readSideCharTypeHandling(relation, cleanedRelation, CharVarcharUtils.addPaddingForScan)
+  }
+
+  private[sql] def readSideTrim(
+      relation: LogicalPlan,
+      cleanedRelation: () => LogicalPlan): (LogicalPlan, Seq[(Attribute, Attribute)]) = {
+    readSideCharTypeHandling(relation, cleanedRelation, CharVarcharUtils.trimTrailingSpacesForScan)
+  }
+
+  private def readSideCharTypeHandling(
+      relation: LogicalPlan,
+      cleanedRelation: () => LogicalPlan,
+      charTypeHandler: Attribute => Expression): (LogicalPlan, Seq[(Attribute, Attribute)]) = {
     val projectList = relation.output.map { attr =>
-      CharVarcharUtils.addPaddingForScan(attr) match {
+      charTypeHandler(attr) match {
         case ne: NamedExpression => ne
         case other => Alias(other, attr.name)(explicitMetadata = Some(attr.metadata))
       }
diff --git a/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/util/CharVarcharUtils.scala b/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/util/CharVarcharUtils.scala
index 9501986bb0c5d..dfc0a13568f7e 100644
--- a/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/util/CharVarcharUtils.scala
+++ b/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/catalyst/util/CharVarcharUtils.scala
@@ -262,6 +262,68 @@ object CharVarcharUtils extends Logging with SparkCharVarcharUtils {
     }.getOrElse(attr)
   }
 
+  def trimTrailingSpacesForScan(attr: Attribute): Expression = {
+    getRawType(attr.metadata).map { rawType =>
+      trimTrailingSpacesForChar(attr, rawType)
+    }.getOrElse(attr)
+  }
+
+  private def trimTrailingSpacesForChar(expr: Expression, dt: DataType): Expression = dt match {
+    case _: CharType =>
+      StringTrimRight(expr)
+
+    case StructType(fields) =>
+      val struct = CreateNamedStruct(fields.zipWithIndex.flatMap { case (f, i) =>
+        Seq(Literal(f.name), trimTrailingSpacesForChar(
+          GetStructField(expr, i, Some(f.name)), f.dataType))
+      }.toImmutableArraySeq)
+      if (struct.valExprs.forall(_.isInstanceOf[GetStructField])) {
+        expr
+      } else if (expr.nullable) {
+        If(IsNull(expr), Literal(null, struct.dataType), struct)
+      } else {
+        struct
+      }
+
+    case ArrayType(et, containsNull) =>
+      val param = NamedLambdaVariable("x", replaceCharVarcharWithString(et), containsNull)
+      val funcBody = trimTrailingSpacesForChar(param, et)
+      if (funcBody.fastEquals(param)) {
+        expr
+      } else {
+        ArrayTransform(expr, LambdaFunction(funcBody, Seq(param)))
+      }
+
+    case MapType(kt, vt, valueContainsNull) =>
+      val keys = MapKeys(expr)
+      val newKeys = {
+        val param = NamedLambdaVariable("x", replaceCharVarcharWithString(kt), nullable = false)
+        val funcBody = trimTrailingSpacesForChar(param, kt)
+        if (funcBody.fastEquals(param)) {
+          keys
+        } else {
+          ArrayTransform(keys, LambdaFunction(funcBody, Seq(param)))
+        }
+      }
+      val values = MapValues(expr)
+      val newValues = {
+        val param = NamedLambdaVariable("x", replaceCharVarcharWithString(vt), valueContainsNull)
+        val funcBody = trimTrailingSpacesForChar(param, vt)
+        if (funcBody.fastEquals(param)) {
+          values
+        } else {
+          ArrayTransform(values, LambdaFunction(funcBody, Seq(param)))
+        }
+      }
+      if (newKeys.fastEquals(keys) && newValues.fastEquals(values)) {
+        expr
+      } else {
+        MapFromArrays(newKeys, newValues)
+      }
+
+    case _ => expr
+  }
+
   /**
    * Return expressions to apply char type padding for the string comparison between the given
    * attributes. When comparing two char type columns/fields, we need to pad the shorter one to
diff --git a/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/internal/SQLConf.scala b/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/internal/SQLConf.scala
index 58840ebf09eb5..63a2e2eb5d1ed 100644
--- a/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/internal/SQLConf.scala
+++ b/sql/catalyst/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/internal/SQLConf.scala
@@ -6486,6 +6486,14 @@ object SQLConf {
     .booleanConf
     .createWithDefault(true)
 
+  val CHAR_TRIM_TRAILING_SPACES_ON_READ =
+    buildConf("spark.sql.charTrimTrailingSpacesOnRead")
+      .doc("When true, Spark trims trailing spaces from CHAR type columns/fields when reading " +
+        s"table data. This config takes precedence over ${READ_SIDE_CHAR_PADDING.key}.")
+      .version("4.2.0")
+      .booleanConf
+      .createWithDefault(false)
+
   val LEGACY_NO_CHAR_PADDING_IN_PREDICATE = buildConf("spark.sql.legacy.noCharPaddingInPredicate")
     .internal()
     .doc("When true, Spark will not apply char type padding for CHAR type columns in string " +
@@ -8465,6 +8473,8 @@ class SQLConf extends Serializable with Logging with SqlApiConf {
 
   def readSideCharPadding: Boolean = getConf(SQLConf.READ_SIDE_CHAR_PADDING)
 
+  def charTrimTrailingSpacesOnRead: Boolean = getConf(SQLConf.CHAR_TRIM_TRAILING_SPACES_ON_READ)
+
   def cliPrintHeader: Boolean = getConf(SQLConf.CLI_PRINT_HEADER)
 
   def legacyIntervalEnabled: Boolean = getConf(LEGACY_INTERVAL_ENABLED)
diff --git a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/datasources/ApplyCharTypePadding.scala b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/datasources/ApplyCharTypePadding.scala
index d952927f9d30a..3989179658cbc 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/datasources/ApplyCharTypePadding.scala
+++ b/sql/core/src/main/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/execution/datasources/ApplyCharTypePadding.scala
@@ -28,6 +28,9 @@ import org.apache.spark.sql.internal.SQLConf
 /**
  * This rule performs string padding for char type.
  *
+ * When reading values from column/field of type CHAR(N), trim trailing spaces if the read-side
+ * trim config is turned on.
+ *
  * When reading values from column/field of type CHAR(N), right-pad the values to length N, if the
  * read-side padding config is turned on.
  *
@@ -41,7 +44,22 @@ object ApplyCharTypePadding extends Rule[LogicalPlan] {
       return plan
     }
 
-    if (conf.readSideCharPadding) {
+    if (conf.charTrimTrailingSpacesOnRead) {
+      plan.resolveOperatorsUpWithNewOutput {
+        case r: LogicalRelation =>
+          ApplyCharTypePaddingHelper.readSideTrim(r, () =>
+            r.copy(output = r.output.map(CharVarcharUtils.cleanAttrMetadata)))
+        case r: DataSourceV2Relation =>
+          ApplyCharTypePaddingHelper.readSideTrim(r, () =>
+            r.copy(output = r.output.map(CharVarcharUtils.cleanAttrMetadata)))
+        case r: HiveTableRelation =>
+          ApplyCharTypePaddingHelper.readSideTrim(r, () => {
+            val cleanedDataCols = r.dataCols.map(CharVarcharUtils.cleanAttrMetadata)
+            val cleanedPartCols = r.partitionCols.map(CharVarcharUtils.cleanAttrMetadata)
+            r.copy(dataCols = cleanedDataCols, partitionCols = cleanedPartCols)
+          })
+      }
+    } else if (conf.readSideCharPadding) {
       val newPlan = plan.resolveOperatorsUpWithNewOutput {
         case r: LogicalRelation =>
           ApplyCharTypePaddingHelper.readSidePadding(r, () =>
diff --git a/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/CharVarcharTestSuite.scala b/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/CharVarcharTestSuite.scala
index 8d22575f5d09b..1034133a4cde3 100644
--- a/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/CharVarcharTestSuite.scala
+++ b/sql/core/src/test/scala/org/apache/spark/sql/CharVarcharTestSuite.scala
@@ -87,6 +87,39 @@ trait CharVarcharTestSuite extends QueryTest {
     }
   }
 
+  test("SPARK-56819: trim trailing spaces from char columns on read") {
+    withSQLConf(SQLConf.CHAR_TRIM_TRAILING_SPACES_ON_READ.key -> "true") {
+      withTable("t") {
+        sql(
+          s"""
+             |CREATE TABLE t (
+             |  c CHAR(4),
+             |  v VARCHAR(4),
+             |  s STRING,
+             |  st STRUCT<c: CHAR(4), v: VARCHAR(4)>
+             |) USING $format
+             |""".stripMargin)
+        sql(
+          """
+            |INSERT INTO t VALUES (
+            |  '12',
+            |  '12 ',
+            |  '12 ',
+            |  named_struct('c', '12', 'v', '12 ')
+            |)
+            |""".stripMargin)
+
+        checkAnswer(
+          sql("SELECT c, v, s, st FROM t"),
+          Row("12", "12 ", "12 ", Row("12", "12 ")))
+        checkAnswer(
+          sql("SELECT length(c), length(v), length(s), length(st.c), length(st.v) FROM t"),
+          Row(2, 3, 3, 2, 3))
+        checkAnswer(sql("SELECT c = '12', c = '12 ' FROM t"), Row(true, false))
+      }
+    }
+  }
+
   test("preserve char/varchar type info") {
     Seq(CharType(5), VarcharType(5)).foreach { typ =>
       for {