Remove whitespace character set from string excluding space

Question

How can I remove the whitespace character set from a string but keep the single spaces between words. I would like to remove double spaces and triple spaces, etc...

Answer 1

Swift 3

extension String {
    func condensingWhitespace() -> String {
        return self.components(separatedBy: .whitespacesAndNewlines)
            .filter { !$0.isEmpty }
            .joined(separator: " ")
    }
}

let string = "  Lorem   \r  ipsum dolar   sit  amet. "
print(string.condensingWhitespace())
// Lorem ipsum dolar sit amet.

Legacy Swift

NSCharacterSet makes this easy:

func condenseWhitespace(string: String) -> String {
    let components = string.componentsSeparatedByCharactersInSet(NSCharacterSet.whitespaceAndNewlineCharacterSet()).filter({!isEmpty($0)})
    return join(" ", components)
}

var string = "  Lorem   \r  ipsum dolar   sit  amet. "
println(condenseWhitespace(string))
// Lorem ipsum dolar sit amet.

or if you'd like it as a String extension:

extension String {
    func condenseWhitespace() -> String {
        let components = self.componentsSeparatedByCharactersInSet(NSCharacterSet.whitespaceAndNewlineCharacterSet()).filter({!Swift.isEmpty($0)})
        return " ".join(components)
    }
}

var string = "  Lorem   \r  ipsum dolar   sit  amet. "
println(string.condenseWhitespace())
// Lorem ipsum dolar sit amet.

All credit to the NSHipster post on NSCharacterSet.

Answer 2

Swift 2 compatible code:

extension String {
    var removeExcessiveSpaces: String {
        let components = self.componentsSeparatedByCharactersInSet(NSCharacterSet.whitespaceCharacterSet())
        let filtered = components.filter({!$0.isEmpty})
        return filtered.joinWithSeparator(" ")
    }
}

Usage:

let str = "test  spaces    too many"
print(str.removeExcessiveSpaces)
// Output: test spaces too many