Substitute multiple whitespace with single whitespace in Python

Question

I have this string:

mystring = 'Here is  some   text   I      wrote   '

How can I substituate the double, triple (...) whitespaces to just one whitespace so that I get:

mystring = 'Here is some text I wrote'

Thanks.

Answer 1

import re

re.sub( '\s+', ' ', mystring ).strip()

this will also substitute all tabs, newlines and other "whitespace-like" characters.

the strip() in the end will cut off any trailing whitespaces, as you requested.

Answer 2

A simple possibility (if you'd rather avoid REs) is

' '.join(mystring.split())

The split and join perform the task you're explicitly asking about -- plus, they also do the extra one that you don't talk about but is seen in your example, removing trailing spaces;-).