Remove multiple whitespaces - PHP doesn't find the spaces

Question

I know, there is a lot of similar questions, and you will says, is a duplicate, but I can't find the solution! I need to remove multiple white spaces and only write one space. In my code I wrote 'REPLACE' instead of ' ', just to clarify. This is some code that I have tested and is not working:

$string=$data['post_content'];
$filtered1=preg_replace("/[^\S\r\n]+/",'REPLACE',$string);
$filtered2=preg_replace("#[^\S\r\n]+#",'REPLACE',$string);
$filtered3=preg_replace("#[^\S\r\n][^\S\r\n]+#",'REPLACE',$string);
$filtered4=preg_replace('#[^\S\r\n][^\S\r\n]+#','REPLACE',$string);
$filtered5=preg_replace('#!\s+!#', 'REPLACE', $string);
$filtered6=preg_replace("/(?<=\s)\x20|\x20(?=\s)/", "REPLACE", $string);
$filtered7=preg_replace("/([\s])\1+/", "REPLACE", $string);
$filtered8=preg_replace("#[^\S\r\n][^\S\r\n]#",'REPLACE',$string);
$filtered9=preg_replace("'/\s+/'",'REPLACE',$string);
$testing1=str_replace("  ","REPLACE",$string);
$testing2=str_replace("\s",'REPLACE',$string);
$testing3=str_replace(array('  '),'REPLACE',$string);
$testing4=str_replace('  ',"REPLACE",$string);
$testing5=str_replace("  ","REPLACE",$string);
$testing6=str_replace(array("  "),'REPLACE',$string);
$testing7=str_replace(array("\s\s"),'REPLACE',$string);

This is the string test:

this is a test 1 2 3 4 6 end

And the results were for $filtered1 and $filtered2:

thisREPLACEisREPLACEaREPLACEtestREPLACE1 REPLACE2 REPLACE3 REPLACE4 REPLACE6 REPLACEend.

For all the others, the result was:

this is a test 1 2 3 4 6 end

Is like PHP is not finding the spaces, even with explode is not finding the double spaces " ". I'm using PHP 5.5.1

if you want to remove all multiple spaces you you can use preg_replace('/\s+/',' ', $string); (replace all 1 or more instance of space with a single space) — bansi
– bansi, Commented Sep 21, 2014 at 16:45
Is still returning the same result: "this is a test 1 2 3 4 6 end" — mgreca
– mgreca, Commented Sep 21, 2014 at 17:43
what is your expected output? and you want to match exactly 2 spaces you can use preg_replace('/\s{2}/',' ', $string); — bansi
– bansi, Commented Sep 22, 2014 at 4:00
For some weird reason, in the comments the result is looking fine. That is how it should look — mgreca
– mgreca, Commented Sep 22, 2014 at 11:15

Jack · Accepted Answer · 2014-09-21 16:44:43Z

1

Here it goes use

preg_replace('/[^\S\r\n]{2,}/',' ',$string); to convert dual spaces to single one

see demo here : http://regex101.com/r/sP7wH7/1

But I'll rather be using the simplest preg_replace('/ {2,}/',' ',$string); to complete this

edited Sep 21, 2014 at 16:44

answered Sep 21, 2014 at 16:38

Jack

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mgreca Over a year ago

I know the regex should work, but is still returning the same result: this is a test 1 2 3 4 6 end

Aurimas · Accepted Answer · 2014-09-21 18:11:04Z

1

Your test string has non-breaking spaces, which are not picked up by \s in your regex pattern. Use this instead:

preg_replace('/(\s+)|(\xA0+)/u', ' ', $string);

answered Sep 21, 2014 at 18:11

Aurimas

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mgreca Over a year ago

I needed to keep the new lines characters, but your answer was useful to know the modifier "u"

mgreca · Accepted Answer · 2014-09-22 12:40:33Z

0

The problem wasn't the RegEx, the problem was the modifier, I used the modifier u thanks to Aurimas answer. These are the possible solutions:

$filtered1=preg_replace("/[^\S\r\n]+/u",' ',$string);
$filtered2=preg_replace("#[^\S\r\n]+#u",' ',$string);
$filtered3=preg_replace("#[^\S\r\n][^\S\r\n]+#u",' ',$string);
$filtered10=preg_replace('/[^\S\r\n]{2,}/u',' ',$string);0
$filtered11=preg_replace('/\h+/u', ' ', $string);
$filtered16=preg_replace('/(\xA0+)/u', ' ', $string);

answered Sep 22, 2014 at 12:40

mgreca

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