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Anonymous's avatar
Anonymous
Not applicable
4 years ago
Solved

M Language Remove Duplicate or Repeating Spaces or Characters

I couldn't find a example for how to do this (Removing Repeating Spaces) so I am posting this.  It would work for any repeating Characters beyond spaces.

 

let
    Source = "abc   ABC       DEF ABC",
    StringToCleanOfExtraSpaces = Source,
    SourceSingleSpaced = Text.Combine(
                                List.RemoveNulls(
                                    List.Transform(
                                        List.Positions(
                                            Text.ToList(
                                                StringToCleanOfExtraSpaces)), each 
                                                                                if _ = 0 then Text.Range(StringToCleanOfExtraSpaces, _ , 1) 
                                                                                else if Text.Range(StringToCleanOfExtraSpaces, _ -1,1)=" " and Text.Range(StringToCleanOfExtraSpaces, _ ,1)=" " then null 
                                                                                else Text.Range(StringToCleanOfExtraSpaces, _, 1))))
in
    SourceSingleSpaced

  • Hi Anonymous,

     

    There is no stock function to remove repeating spaces. If you only concerned about spaces, the function can be shorter, but not much:

    let
        Source = "abc   ABC       DEF ABC",
        StringToCleanOfExtraSpaces = Source,
        SourceSingleSpaced = Text.Combine(
                                List.Accumulate(
                                        Text.ToList(StringToCleanOfExtraSpaces), {}, (a, n)=> if n = " " and List.Last(a) = " " then a else a & {n}))
    in
        SourceSingleSpaced

    Kind regards,

    John

  • Here are a couple of shorter options.

    let
        StringToClean = "  abc   ABC       DEF ABC ",
        SplitText = Text.Split(StringToClean, " "),
        RemoveBlanks = List.Select(SplitText, each _ <> ""),
        Result = Text.Combine(RemoveBlanks, " ")
    in
        Result

    This is a slightly simplified version of this post (only works for spaces).

     

    let
        StringToClean = "  abc   ABC       DEF ABC ",
        Result = Text.Combine(Splitter.SplitTextByWhitespace()(Text.Trim(StringToClean)), " ")
    in
        Result

    Credit to Frank Tonsen's comment on this post.

3 Replies

  • jbwtp's avatar
    jbwtp
    Icon for Memorable Member rankMemorable Member

    Hi Anonymous,

     

    There is no stock function to remove repeating spaces. If you only concerned about spaces, the function can be shorter, but not much:

    let
        Source = "abc   ABC       DEF ABC",
        StringToCleanOfExtraSpaces = Source,
        SourceSingleSpaced = Text.Combine(
                                List.Accumulate(
                                        Text.ToList(StringToCleanOfExtraSpaces), {}, (a, n)=> if n = " " and List.Last(a) = " " then a else a & {n}))
    in
        SourceSingleSpaced

    Kind regards,

    John

    • AlexisOlson's avatar
      AlexisOlson
      Icon for Super User rankSuper User

      Here are a couple of shorter options.

      let
          StringToClean = "  abc   ABC       DEF ABC ",
          SplitText = Text.Split(StringToClean, " "),
          RemoveBlanks = List.Select(SplitText, each _ <> ""),
          Result = Text.Combine(RemoveBlanks, " ")
      in
          Result

      This is a slightly simplified version of this post (only works for spaces).

       

      let
          StringToClean = "  abc   ABC       DEF ABC ",
          Result = Text.Combine(Splitter.SplitTextByWhitespace()(Text.Trim(StringToClean)), " ")
      in
          Result

      Credit to Frank Tonsen's comment on this post.

      • Anonymous's avatar
        Anonymous
        Not applicable

        For spaces that last example is slick