How Can I Easily Remove Multiple Spaces from a String in Python?

Removing Multiple Spaces from Strings: A Simple Solution

When working with textual data, it's often necessary to remove excessive whitespace, particularly multiple spaces, to improve readability and consistency. This article explores a straightforward method for achieving this without resorting to complex string manipulation techniques.

The problem arises when a string contains multiple consecutive spaces, disrupting the intended formatting. For instance, the following string contains redundant spaces:

The   fox jumped   over    the log.

We aim to transform it into:

The fox jumped over the log.

Solution

The Python programming language offers a straightforward way to remove multiple spaces from strings using regular expressions. The re.sub() function, with the appropriate regular expression, can efficiently handle this task:

import re
re.sub(' +', ' ', 'The     quick brown    fox')

In this expression, ' ' matches one or more consecutive spaces, and ' ' replaces them with a single space. The resulting string will have all multiple spaces collapsed into single spaces.

This method provides a concise and effective way to remove multiple spaces from strings, making it a valuable tool for text processing and data preparation tasks.

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