Question

Lets say that I have something like this:

. . . . First . . Second. . . . . Third . . . 

The desired output is:

.First.Second.Third.

How can I achieve this by using regular expressions? I have in mind something like this:

str = Regex.Replace(str, @"\.+", ".", RegexOptions.Multiline).Trim(); 

Tried it, doesn’t work.

Answer 1

If you have spaces between the dots, like it appears you do in the question, try:

str = Regex.Replace(str, @"[\. ]*\. *", ".", RegexOptions.Multiline)

This will convert any string of dots and spaces including at least a single dot.

". . .First" => ".First"
" . . First" => ".First"
" ... First" => ".First"
".   .First" => ".First"
"     First" => "     First"