MySQL : how to remove double or more spaces from a string?

Question

I couldn\'t find this question for MySQL so here it is:

I need to trim all double or more spaces in a string to 1 single space.

For example: \"The  

Answer 1

Follow my generic function made for MySQL 5.6. My intention was to use regular expression to identify the spaces, CR and LF, however, it is not supported by this version of mysql. So, I had to loop through the string looking for the characters.

CREATE DEFINER=`db_xpto`@`%` FUNCTION `trim_spaces_and_crlf_entire_string`(`StringSuja` text) RETURNS text CHARSET utf8     COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci
DETERMINISTIC
BEGIN
DECLARE StringLimpa TEXT;
DECLARE CaracterAtual, CaracterAnterior TEXT;
DECLARE Contador, TamanhoStringSuja INT;

SET StringLimpa = '';
SET CaracterAtual = '';
SET CaracterAnterior = '';
SET TamanhoStringSuja = LENGTH(StringSuja);
SET Contador = 1;

WHILE Contador <= TamanhoStringSuja DO
    SET CaracterAtual = SUBSTRING(StringSuja, Contador, 1);

    IF ( CaracterAtual = ' ' AND CaracterAnterior = ' ' ) OR CaracterAtual = '\n' OR CaracterAtual = '\r' THEN
        /* DO NOTHING */
        SET Contador = Contador;
        /* TORNA OS ESPAÇOS DUPLICADOS, CR, LF VISUALIZÁVEIS NO RESULTADO (DEBUG)
        IF ( CaracterAtual = ' ' ) THEN SET StringLimpa = CONCAT(StringLimpa, '*');END IF;
        IF ( CaracterAtual = '\n' ) THEN SET StringLimpa = CONCAT(StringLimpa, '\\N');END IF;
        IF ( CaracterAtual = '\r' ) THEN SET StringLimpa = CONCAT(StringLimpa, '\\R');END IF;
        */
    ELSE
        /* COPIA CARACTER ATUAL PARA A STRING A FIM DE RECONSTRUÍ-LA SEM OS ESPAÇOS DUPLICADOS */
        SET StringLimpa = CONCAT(StringLimpa, CaracterAtual);
        /*SET StringLimpa = CONCAT(StringLimpa, Contador, CaracterAtual);*/
        SET CaracterAnterior = CaracterAtual;
    END IF;

    SET Contador = Contador + 1;
END WHILE;

RETURN StringLimpa;
END