Replacing multiple spaces in Python

[tabc]

Homework Statement

Write a function spacereplace(txt) that removes two or more spaces in a row, replacing them with a single space. Any other characters should remain the same.

The Attempt at a Solution

I tried this:

def spacereplace(txt):
f=txt.replace(" "," ")
return f

This obviously just works when there are two spaces. I have no idea how to make it work for 2+.

This method apparently works:

def spacereplace(txt):
txt.split()
f=" ".join(txt.split())
return f

But it is not beeing accepted. Any ideas?

 

[lofgran]

Hello!

Here is one possible solution to your problem:

def spacereplace(txt):
new_txt = ""
prev_char = ""
for char in txt:
if char == " " and prev_char == " ":
continue
else:
new_txt += char
prev_char = char
return new_txt

Explanation: This function loops through each character in the input string and checks if it is a space. If it is, it also checks the previous character. If the previous character was also a space, it skips adding the current space to the new string. Otherwise, it adds the current character to the new string. This way, it only adds a single space even if there are multiple consecutive spaces.

I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any further questions or if this solution doesn't work for you. Good luck!