Clean up more than two spaces and new lines with regex

A simple JavaScript method that removes all newlines and multiple spaces from a given text

Andres Canavesi
Andrés Canavesi
Aug 28, 2020
A simple JavaScript method that removes all new lines and multiple spaces (including tab spaces) by a single space
featured image

Overview

Regular expressions are those I don't use so frequently so I need to wrap them all in a method with a short explanation about what they do. So I created a simple JavaScript method that removes all newlines and multiple spaces (including tab spaces) by a single space

The code

      
/**
 * It replace all new lines and multiple spaces (including tab spaces) by a single space
 * @param {string } text
 * @return {string} a new cleaned string
 */
function cleanUpSpaces(text) {
    if (!text) {
        return text;
    }
    // \s{2,} matches any white space (length >= 2) character (equal to [\r\n\t\f\v ])
    return text.replace(/\s{2,}/g, ' ');
};

Output example

      
// given
`SELECT *
            FROM account        WHERE id =    1234`

// output
SELECT * FROM account WHERE id = 1234
Photo by Lucas Hobbs on Unsplash
js utils regex dev