From: Tom Cloyd <tomcloyd@...>
Date: 2009-02-07T22:31:27+09:00
Subject: cannot remove multiple spaces

I'm baffled by this strange outcome - I cannot reduce multiple spaces 
from a text file. This isn't just a regex problem, somehow. I'm failing 
to grasp something essential, but don't know what it is. All help 
appreciated, as usual!

Here is a demo of my problem, in which I try two different ways, and 
both fail:

=== code ===
# h2t.rb

def main
  # conversion table spec
  conv = [
  [ '<h1>', 'h1. ' ], [ '<h2>', 'h2. ' ], [ '<h3>', 'h3. ' ],
  [ '<h4>', 'h4. ' ], [ '<h5>', 'h5. ' ], [ '<h6>', 'h6. ' ],  [ 
/<\/h\d>/, '' ],
  [ " +", ' ' ]]  # <= this last array element should do the trick, but 
doesn't

  data = open( 'h2t-in2.txt', 'r' ) { |f| ( f.readlines( data )).to_s  }
 
  conv.each do |i|
    data.gsub!( i[0], i[1] )
  end
  data.squeeze(' ')  # <= putting this here was sheer desperations, but 
even THIS fails

  open( "h2t-out.txt", "w" ) { |f| f.write( data ) }

end

%w(rubygems ruby-debug readline strscan logger fileutils).each{ |lib| 
require lib }

main

=== input file ===

<h1>Library    catalog  listing           </h1>x

<h3>Library    catalog  listing           </h3>x

<h2>Library    catalog  listing           </h2>x

p(subtitle).   A    complete listing of all material in the Library


=== output file ===


h1. Library    catalog  listing           x

h3. Library    catalog  listing           x

h2. Library    catalog  listing           x

p(subtitle).   A    complete listing of all material in the Library

==============

The "x"s in the input file are to show that while the end tags are being 
removed the space before them is NOT.

t.

-- 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tom Cloyd, MS MA, LMHC - Private practice Psychotherapist
Bellingham, Washington, U.S.A: (360) 920-1226
<< tc@tomcloyd.com >> (email)
<< TomCloyd.com >> (website) 
<< sleightmind.wordpress.com >> (mental health weblog)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~