I'm looking to replace multiple instances of space characters. My initial searches all seem to focus on using the /s but this includes newlines and other whitespace
I think this should be close? replace two or more instances spaces " " with one space
preg_replace('/ {2,}/', ' ', $string);
What about trying this :
preg_replace('/\s\s+/', ' ', $string);
\s, because it does include not only spaces.
[] brackets do. is it to help split up pattern so its easier to read?
[abc] means "search for one of the three characters : a,b OR c. In your case, it includes just one character : space. So, basically to explain my regex, it reads : "Search for one space. Then, search for AT LEAST one (more)space." ==> In other words, for AT LEAST 2 spaces (one after the other)... :-)$str = <<<EOT
word word 123.
new line word
new line word
EOT;
$replaced = preg_replace('#\h{2,}#', ' ', $str);
var_dump($replaced);
output:
word word 123.
new line word
new line word
\h matches any horizontal whitespace character (equivalent to [[:blank:]])
{2,} matches the previous token between 2 and unlimited times, as many times as possible, giving back as needed (greedy)
Credits: https://regex101.com/
Use \v for vertical whitespace, \s for any whitespace.
m flag is useless for this pattern because the pattern contains no start or end anchors (^ or $). This answer is misleading researchers.