Removing any single letter on a string in python

Question

I would like to remove any single letter from a string in python.

For example:

input: \'z 23rwqw a 34qf34 h 343fsdfd\'
output: \'23rwqw 34qf34 343fsd         


        

Answer 1

I had a similar issue and came up with the following regex solution:

import re
pattern = r"((?<=^)|(?<= )).((?=$)|(?= ))"
text = "z 23rwqw a 34qf34 h 343fsdfd"
print(re.sub("\s+", " ", re.sub(pattern, '', text).strip()))
#23rwqw 34qf34 343fsdfd

Explanation

• (?<=^) and (?<= ) are look-behinds for start of string and space, respectively. Match either of these conditions using | (or).
• . matches any single character
• ((?=$)|(?= )) is similar to the first bullet point, except it's a look-ahead for either the end of the string or a space.

Finally call re.sub("\s+", " ", my_string) to condense multiple spaces with a single space.