JAVASCRIPT
Normalize Whitespace to Single Spaces
Clean up strings by replacing sequences of multiple spaces or tabs with a single space using a simple JavaScript regular expression `replace()` method, followed by trimming.
function normalizeSpaces(text) {
// Replace one or more whitespace characters (space, tab, newline, etc.)
// with a single space.
// Use 'g' flag for global replacement.
// Use ' +' to match one or more spaces, or '\s+' for any whitespace.
return text.replace(/\s+/g, ' ').trim();
}
const messyText = " Hello world! How are\twe? ";
const cleanedText = normalizeSpaces(messyText);
console.log(`"${messyText}"`);
console.log(`"${cleanedText}"`); // Output: "Hello world! How are we?"
const anotherMessyText = " Leading and trailing spaces. ";
console.log(`"${normalizeSpaces(anotherMessyText)}"`); // Output: "Leading and trailing spaces."
How it works: The `normalizeSpaces` JavaScript function cleans up text by replacing any sequence of one or more whitespace characters (spaces, tabs, newlines, etc.) with a single space. The regex `/\s+/g` uses `\s` to match any whitespace character and `+` to match one or more occurrences. The `g` flag ensures all occurrences are replaced, not just the first. Finally, `.trim()` is called to remove any leading or trailing spaces that might remain after the replacement.