Remove single character between spaces in a string

[mellata]

Hi,

I have a dataset which has strings in the format below

ABCDE F GHIDJ

AB C DEFGHIJ

ABCD E FGH I 

I would like to find a way to only remove the character that is by itself.

ABCDE F GHIDJ --> ABCDE GHIDJ

AB C DEFGHIJ --> AB DEFGHIJ

ABCD E FGH I--> ABCD FGH

I tried used the RegEx tool however am not really sure how to use it.

Thanks for the help in advance!

[cmcclellan · Accepted solution]

Use it like this:

Regular Expression is   <space><dot><space>

Replacement Text is <space>

the result is:

[mellata]

What is the difference between the first option (Space, dot, space) and second option which is : (.*)\s[[:alpha:]]\s(.*)?

[cmcclellan]

I don't think there's any difference, both examples will achieve the same result

[Number4]

Hate to resurrect an old thread, but I have multiple single letters that I need removed.  I've tired both options listed here, and they only remove the first single letter found.

For example, I want to remove the two single letters below.  And the single letters vary.

WORD J ANOTHERWORD H

[cmcclellan]

@Number4 it's always best to start a new thread for your new problem.  It helps with getting the right answer to your problem 🙂 

[pratiksondkar]

I tried both approaches. It is not giving the desired result if the input is like this :

Input :

A BCDE F GHIDJ K

AB C DEFGHIJ

ABCD E K FGH I 

Desired Output :

A BCDE GHIDJ 

AB DEFGHIJ

ABCD FGH  

Appreciate any other workarounds.