Replace an arbitrary number of white spaces by just one white space in Python for data cleaning (useful for XML/HTML parsing)

replace_multiple_whitespaces.py

import re

# Default replaces white spaces, tabs, line breaks etc.
def replace_multiple_whitespaces(text):
    return re.sub(r'\s+', ' ', text) # use re.sub(r'[ \t]+', ' ', text) if line breaks should be preserved

# Use this function if you want to preserve exactly one line break and remove the rest like above
def replace_multiple_whitespaces_keep_one_linebreak(text):
    text = re.sub(r'[ \t]*\r?\n[ \t\r\n]*', '\n', text)
    # Replace one or more spaces or tabs with a single space (for remaining white spaces)
    text = re.sub(r'[ \t]+', ' ', text)
    return text

# Example usage:
original_text = 'This   is   a   text \n \n \n  with   multiple    \n \t  white\tspaces.'

print(original_text)

print("Version 1")
replace_multiple_whitespaces(original_text)
# 'This is a text with multiple whitespaces.'

print("Version 2")
replace_multiple_whitespaces_keep_one_linebreak(original_text)
# 'This is a text\nwith multiple\nwhite spaces.'