Remove Duplicate Spaces Regex

Replace multiple consecutive spaces with a single space using regex pattern for text normalization.

Pattern Breakdown

\s{2,}

Components

Character Classes

• \s - Any whitespace character (space, tab, newline, etc.)
• {2,} - Quantifier: two or more occurrences

Examples

Before Replacement:

• Hello World → Hello World
• Text with multiple spaces → Text with multiple spaces
• Line1\n\n\nLine2 → Line1\nLine2 (if using \s)
• Word1 Word2 Word3 → Word1 Word2 Word3

After Replacement:

• All multiple spaces become single spaces

Implementation

JavaScript

const text = 'Hello    World    with    spaces';
const normalized = text.replace(/\s{2,}/g, ' ');
// Result: "Hello World with spaces"

// For spaces only (not tabs/newlines)
const spaceOnly = text.replace(/ {2,}/g, ' ');

Python

import re
text = 'Hello    World    with    spaces'
normalized = re.sub(r'\s{2,}', ' ', text)
# Result: "Hello World with spaces"

# For spaces only
space_only = re.sub(r' {2,}', ' ', text)

Go

import "regexp"
text := "Hello    World    with    spaces"
spaceRegex := regexp.MustCompile(`\s{2,}`)
normalized := spaceRegex.ReplaceAllString(text, " ")
// Result: "Hello World with spaces"

// For spaces only
spaceOnlyRegex := regexp.MustCompile(` {2,}`)
normalized = spaceOnlyRegex.ReplaceAllString(text, " ")

Variations

1. Spaces only: {2,} - Only matches multiple spaces, not tabs/newlines
2. Whitespace: \s{2,} - Matches any whitespace (spaces, tabs, newlines)
3. Trim after: Combine with trim to remove leading/trailing spaces

Limitations

1. Whitespace type: \s matches all whitespace, may need for spaces only
2. No trim: Doesn't remove leading/trailing spaces automatically
3. Replacement pattern: This is a replacement pattern, not validation

When to Use

• Text normalization
• Cleaning user input
• Preparing text for processing
• Removing formatting artifacts
• Text sanitization

For production, consider:

• Using instead of \s if you only want spaces
• Trimming result: .trim() or .strip()
• Handling other whitespace characters separately if needed
• Preserving intentional formatting in some cases