How do I replace multiple spaces with a single space in C#?

Question

How can I replace multiple spaces in a string with only one space in C#?

Example:

1 2 3  4    5

would be:

1 2 3 4 5         


        

Answer 1

For those, who don't like Regex, here is a method that uses the StringBuilder:

    public static string FilterWhiteSpaces(string input)
    {
        if (input == null)
            return string.Empty;

        StringBuilder stringBuilder = new StringBuilder(input.Length);
        for (int i = 0; i < input.Length; i++)
        {
            char c = input[i];
            if (i == 0 || c != ' ' || (c == ' ' && input[i - 1] != ' '))
                stringBuilder.Append(c);
        }
        return stringBuilder.ToString();
    }

In my tests, this method was 16 times faster on average with a very large set of small-to-medium sized strings, compared to a static compiled Regex. Compared to a non-compiled or non-static Regex, this should be even faster.

Keep in mind, that it does not remove leading or trailing spaces, only multiple occurrences of such.