c# - How do you remove repeated characters in a string

Question

I have a website which allows users to comment on photos. Of course, users leave comments like:

'OMGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!'

or

'YOU SUCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK'

You get it.

Basically, I want to shorten those comments by removing at least most of those excess repeated characters. I'm sure there's a way to do it with Regex..i just can't figure it out.

Any ideas?

Answer 1

Keeping in mind that the English language uses double letters often you probably don't want to blindly eliminate them. Here is a regex that will get rid of anything beyond a double.

Regex r = new Regex("(.)(?<=\1\1\1)", RegexOptions.IgnoreCase | RegexOptions.CultureInvariant | RegexOptions.Compiled);

var x = r.Replace("YOU SUCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK", String.Empty);
// x = "YOU SUCCKK"

var y = r.Replace("OMGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!", String.Empty);
// y = "OMGG!!"