Comment On Classics Week: Removing Spaces, the Easy Way

One of these days, a programming language will include some sort of replace() function.

thats still not c++ ;-;

fist!

dup!

Everyone knows the best way to remove spaces is to take a screenshot of the string, print it out, physically cut the spaces out using a scalpel, reassemble the rest of the string, place it on a wooden table, take a photo of it and then scan in the photo.

The Real WTF is that they didn't use PHP and XML.

CAPTCHA = comb-over

Keith Hackney:

The Real WTF is that they didn't use PHP and XML.

Have they tried javascript?

captcha: Why use anything when you have javascript..

you mean like in C# or Java

you mean like in C# or Java

Keith Hackney:

dup!

Everyone knows the best way to remove spaces is to take a screenshot of the string, print it out, physically cut the spaces out using a scalpel, reassemble the rest of the string, place it on a wooden table, take a photo of it and then scan in the photo.

The Real WTF is that they didn't use PHP and XML.

CAPTCHA = comb-over

No, the Real WTF is that they didn't use J#.

I like generating random strings until you get one that's the same as your starting string but without the spaces. Takes a long time, but eventually it will work perfectly!

akatherder:

One of these days, a programming language will include some sort of replace() function.

Well,

s/ //g

is good enough for all those sed and perl users out there...

Captha : dubya. Dubya Bush?

sir_flexalot:

I like generating random strings until you get one that's the same as your starting string but without the spaces. Takes a long time, but eventually it will work perfectly!

That's assuming your test that one string equals another string with space removed works correctly. You could make an error, such as testing that the two strings are equal ignoring spaces.

my version:

char* RemoveSpaces( char *str ) {
if ( NULL == str ) return NULL;

char *to = str;
char *from = str;

do{
if( *str != ' ' ) *to++ = *str;
while( *str++ != '\0 );

return str;
}

Thank god this is very easy and straightforward in Java:

public String removeSpaces(String paula) {

  String willy = "";

  StringTokenizer george = new StringTokenizer(paula, " ");

  while(george.hasMoreTokens()) {

    willy = new String(willy.toString() + george.nextToken().toString();

  }

  return paula.replaceAll(" ", "")

}

I was called in to fix an old Excel add-in written in VBA. It's the worst code I've ever seen...

Example: Two functions used everywhere in the code to change change " " to "_" or the other way around.

Function Change_toBlankforText(txt As String) As String

Dim n As Integer

Dim retur As String

    retur = ""

    For n = 1 To Len(txt)

        If Mid(txt, n, 1) <> "_" Then

            retur = retur & Mid(txt, n, 1)

        Else

            retur = retur & " "

        End If

    Next n

    Change_toBlankforText = retur

End Function



Function ChangeBlankto_forText(txt As String) As String

Dim n As Integer

Dim retur As String

    retur = ""

    For n = 1 To Len(txt)

        If Mid(txt, n, 1) <> " " Then

            retur = retur & Mid(txt, n, 1)

        Else

            retur = retur & "_"

        End If

    Next n

    ChangeBlankto_forText = retur

End Function

I chose to replace it with this instead:

Replace(txt, " ", "_")

There's enough WTF's in this add-in to fill a whole month of submissions.
/C.M

Use a real language such as VB6:

Replace(myString, " ", "")

(Captcha= ewww)

The STL C++ way:

string str = "I have spaces to remove";
string newStr = "";
newStr.resize(str.length());
remove_copy_if(str.begin(), str.end(), newStr.begin(), bind2nd(equal_to<char>(), ' '));

// newStr == "Ihavespacestoremove"


There's probably some other ways using the STL too.

Here's another unit-tested version (which works, although might not should... or whatever)... Please note the C standard lib notations.

// String Remove Spaces.  Isnt that obvious?

void strrms( char *p )

   char *s=(char*)calloc(strlen(p)*sizeof(char),1);

   char *c=strtok(p," ");

   while(c) strcat(s,c), c=strtok(0," ");

   strcpy(p,s);

}

BTW, I think there is a better (read shorter and more obscure) way to make the while loop, but I don't have much time.

captcha: darwin. Give some of those to the ppl who write here without knowing what they talk about.

sir_flexalot:

I like generating random strings until you get one that's the same as your starting string but without the spaces. Takes a long time, but eventually it will work perfectly!

That only works if you then compare the two strings character by character, making sure to take the case into account.

with the a little help from a quantum computer...this solutuion would take no time at all

sir_flexalot:

I like generating random strings until you get one that's the same as your starting string but without the spaces. Takes a long time, but eventually it will work perfectly!

How do you then generate thestringwithoutspaces for the comparision in the termination condition? There must be a neat recursive solution here...

sub strip_spaces {
my $s = shift;

my $r;
while ($r = generate_random_string() ne strip_spaces($s)) {};
return $r;
}

Sandpit:

Use a real language such as VB6:

Replace(myString, " ", ""))

Or use another real language such as VB.NET (in which our WTF is written):

myString = myString.Replace(" ","")

I think I like the Haskell way better:

removeSpaces = filter (/= ' ')

Casting my mind all the way back to February 22nd has me feeling all nostalgic. We should have Classics Week at least once a month.

Not shorter but more obscure?

char *removespaces(char *str)

{

   char *p_from = str, *p_to = str;

   while(*p_to) *p_to++ = *(p_from += (*p_from == ' ') ? 1: 0), p_from++;

   return str;

}

I still prefer feeding my spaces to demonic forces to get rid of them...

http://worsethanfailure.com/Comments/Removing_Spaces,_the_Easy_Way.aspx?pg=2#121986

The source for this version is longer than both the WTF "reference" and Monkey's version (and unlike Ted's version it actually compiles), but g++ generates fewer machine instructions for it:

char* rmSpaces(char* str) {

    if (str) {

        char* to = str;

        char* from = str;

        char ch;



        do {

            ch = *from++;

            if (' ' != ch)

                *to++ = ch;

        } while ('\0' != ch);

    }

    return str;

}

Or in Java

myString = myString.replaceAll(" +", "");

// to remove white space.

myString = myString.replaceAll("\\s+", "");

Monkey:

Not shorter but more obscure?

char *removespaces(char *str)

{

   char *p_from = str, *p_to = str;

   while(*p_to) *p_to++ = *(p_from += (*p_from == ' ') ? 1: 0), p_from++;

   return str;

}

Would that even work? What does the following return?

removespaces("this  has  multiple     spaces    in   a row");

How about designing functions that don't restrict you to removing or replacing just one character?

#include <stdio.h>



static char *strremove(char *, char);

static char *strreplace(char *, char, char);



int

main(int argc, char *argv[])

{

    char rem[] = " I have spaces to remove ";

    char rep[] = " I have spaces to replace ";



    printf("'%s'\n", strremove(rem, ' '));

    printf("'%s'\n", strreplace(rep, ' ', '_'));



    return 0;

}



char *

strremove(char *str, char c)

{

    char *to, *from;



    if (str) {

        for (to = from = str; *from; ++from)

            if (*from != c)

                *to++ = *from;

        *to = '\0';

    }



    return str;

}



char *

strreplace(char *str, char o, char n)

{

    char *to, *from;



    if (str) {

        for (to = from = str; *from; ++from)

            if (*from != o)

                *to++ = *from;

            else

                *to++ = n;

        *to = '\0';

    }



    return str;

}

Skurry:

Thank god this is very easy and straightforward in Java:

public String removeSpaces(String paula) {

  String willy = "";

  StringTokenizer george = new StringTokenizer(paula, " ");

  while(george.hasMoreTokens()) {

    willy = new String(willy.toString() + george.nextToken().toString();

  }

  return paula.replaceAll(" ", "")

}

Typical.

While Willy and George are dicking around with their 'tokens', Paula is getting the job done on her own.

Bet the guys try and take the credit as well...

;->

Cheers,
Reaver

void removespaces(char *target, char *src) {
if(*src && *src++ != ' ') *target++ = src[-1];
if(*src) removespaces(target,src);
}

elegantly bizarre.

Addendum (2007-05-11 12:50):
oops. forgot "else*target=0". also, the "*src &&" in the first condition is not strictly necessary

void removespaces(char*target,char*src){if(*src++!=' ')*target++=src[-1];if(*src)removespaces(target,src);else*target=0;}

SomeCoder:

The STL C++ way:

string str = "I have spaces to remove";
string newStr = "";
newStr.resize(str.length());
remove_copy_if(str.begin(), str.end(), newStr.begin(), bind2nd(equal_to<char>(), ' '));

// newStr == "Ihavespacestoremove"


There's probably some other ways using the STL too.

Much easier:

string str = "I have spaces to remove";
str.erase(remove(str.begin(), str.end(), ' '), str.end());

Or for char arrays:

char* removeSpaces(char* buf)
{
int len = strlen(buf);
std::remove(buf, buf+len+1, ' ');
return buf;
}

void vacuum(std::string &s) {

        for (int x = 0; x < s.length(); x++)

                if (isspace(s[x]))

                        s.erase(x, 1); 

}

I am so glad I know PHP and can do this so much better in it. If only they would come up with some sort of str_replace() function though... Oh well.

<?php

function rs($s)

{

    if ($s == '') return;

    if ($s == ' ') return '';

    $r = ' ';

    $sl = strlen($s);

    $st = '';

    for ($i = 0; $i < $sl; ++$i)

    {

        if ($s[$i] == $r)

        {

            $s[$i] = '';

        }

        

        $st .= $s[$i];

    }

    

    return $st;

}

?>

CAPTCHA: howdy
RESPONSE: Fine, and you?

> I don't even know what the hell the Try/Catch is supposed
> to be doing

Well, in most languages string operations like MID/Substring cause the allocation of a new string, hence memory allocation, which can fail raising an exception... :P

Seriously, this is one of the things most quickly forgotten by C++ MFC developers that do know how CString objects really work.

Kiasyn:

thats still not c++ ;-;

Not sure if you are serious or not because of the strange kinda-sorta-smiley, but it really is C++...

This line:

for ( char* from = str ; '\0' != *from ; ++from )

-Will not compile in plain C.

Assuming it's followed by a statement or a block, why not?

Or are you still using the c89 standard? That's so... 1989.

incidentally, "'\0' !=" is a no-op.

for(char *from=str;*from;++from) { ... }

perfectly valid c99.

Python way is a one-liner! Probably for other scripting languages too:

>>> string = "hey i want to remove spaces? kk"
>>> removed = "".join(c for c in string if c != ' ')
>>> removed
'heyiwanttoremovespaces?kk'

or alternatively:
>>> filter(lambda x: x!=' ', string)
'heyiwanttoremovespaces?kk'

or a faster but even stranger looking way
>>> filter(' '.__ne__, string)
'heyiwanttoremovespaces?kk'

Everyone say it with me now...

"Regular Expressions Are Your Friends!"

Dammit, in both occurrences of this article, I posted my vacuum method, and not once has anyone commented how clever my name for it was. :(

sir_flexalot:

I like generating random strings until you get one that's the same as your starting string but without the spaces. Takes a long time, but eventually it will work perfectly!

Wort sorting algorithm ever: Generate all possible permuations of the input, and return the one that is sorted.

OR, keep randomly generating permutations of the input, and return when the one you hit on, happens to be sorted.

Or even simpler:
removed = string.replace(" ", "")

Lol. Yeah, I guess that would be the fastest, simplest way. Silly me.

Or...you could do it like real python..
string = 'hey i want to remove spaces? kk'
string = string.replace(' ','')

in my goal of finding a quick one-line way to do it, i forgot str had a replace function. I promise, my python code is better than that usually!

the real wtf is that he should've used regular expression to find the space then have an character array that stores the non-space characters then converting it to a string when finished parsing.

captcha: putanginamo

Don't try to use this in a multithreaded application if you're using strtok. Also, 'more obscure' does not equal 'better'.

java.lang.Chris;:

How about designing functions that don't restrict you to removing or replacing just one character?

#include <stdio.h>



static char *strremove(char *, char);

static char *strreplace(char *, char, char);



int

main(int argc, char *argv[])

{

    char rem[] = " I have spaces to remove ";

    char rep[] = " I have spaces to replace ";



    printf("'%s'\n", strremove(rem, ' '));

    printf("'%s'\n", strreplace(rep, ' ', '_'));



    return 0;

}



char *

strremove(char *str, char c)

{

    char *to, *from;



    if (str) {

        for (to = from = str; *from; ++from)

            if (*from != c)

                *to++ = *from;

        *to = '\0';

    }



    return str;

}



char *

strreplace(char *str, char o, char n)

{

    char *to, *from;



    if (str) {

        for (to = from = str; *from; ++from)

            if (*from != o)

                *to++ = *from;

            else

                *to++ = n;

        *to = '\0';

    }



    return str;

}

Aside from the use of literals o, n, and c where old_char new_char, and gone_char would do better, this is the clearest solution I've seen on this thread. I'd note also that C does allow the use of parameter names in function declarations, and that using meaningful names would make those declarations self-commenting.

char *rmchar(char *buf, char *src, char rm)

{

	char *i, *j;

	for (i = str, j = buf; *i; j++) if (*i != rm) *j++ = *i;

	return buf;

}

QED.

sir_flexalot:

I like generating random strings until you get one that's the same as your starting string but without the spaces. Takes a long time, but eventually it will work perfectly!

Hey, it's O(1)!

Or would that be O(rand(1))?

-matthew