How can I automatically replace all instances of multiple spaces, with a single space, in Javascript?
I've tried chaining some s.replace but this doesn't seem optimal.
I'm using jQuery as well, in case it's a builtin functionality.
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4 Answers
You could use a regular expression replace:
str = str.replace(/ +(?= )/g,'');
Credit: The above regex was taken from Regex to replace multiple spaces with a single space
9 Comments
InfinitiesLoop
This works too. s = s.replace(/ +/g, " ");
Josiah
Very true :) --inserts more characters--
Val
str= ''+str.replace(/ +(?= )/g,'') is little better solution in case your str is undefinied or NaN :)
Jeff
i'm reading data in from a txt file (via AJAX), and @InfinitiesLoop regex worked fine but Josiah's didn't
Delicia Brummitt
This didnt work for me. However @redexp did.
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There are a lot of options for regular expressions you could use to accomplish this. One example that will perform well is:
str.replace( /\s\s+/g, ' ' )
See this question for a full discussion on this exact problem: Regex to replace multiple spaces with a single space
Comments
you all forget about quantifier n{X,} http://www.w3schools.com/jsref/jsref_regexp_nxcomma.asp
here best solution
str = str.replace(/\s{2,}/g, ' ');
6 Comments
Nick.T
You could also cite Regular Expression website for all sorts of regex flavors and full reference.
some-non-descript-user
What's the improvement in using bracket quantifier over a simple +?
Aalex Gabi
@some-non-descript-user
/\s+/g also replaces single spaces (there is no need for this) but /\s\s+/g or /\s{2,}/g replace only multiple spaces.some-non-descript-user
@Aalex Gabi: sure, you're right, but, aesthetics aside, I doubt this will be noticeable in the vast majority of applications. A slight performance gain in veery large files, maybe? In all other cases, the plus is more convenient than the brackets, I'd say.
Aalex Gabi
@some-non-descript-user I agree that the + is more convenient than the brackets. As for performance the single space is one third slower than the double space: jsperf.com/removing-multiple-spaces
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You can also replace without a regular expression.
while(str.indexOf(' ')!=-1)str.replace(' ',' ');
3 Comments
Nick.T
Works too... The question is : which is more efficient? This version or the regex version. I have a preference for regex as we never practice enough.
kennebec
I don't know- if you have no matches, this method is more efficient. If you have a lot of matches, somebody is doing it wrong.