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  • Ahh... [] makes it "optional". That explains it. Commented Aug 19, 2011 at 15:28
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    @WernerCD, no * makes it "optional". [ ] just makes a list of characters with only one character in it (a space). It is the quantifier * that means "zero or more of the previous thing" Commented Aug 19, 2011 at 15:33
  • Ahh... so to be more accurate, changing it from a single space / */, to a double space is what did it then. I gottcha. Commented Aug 19, 2011 at 15:50
  • I was trying to search for a pattern which search only double spaces only and it worked cool Commented Jan 19, 2015 at 8:18
  • For some reason i got order s uncompleted with sed, while tr -s " " worked. I'll not forget it never :-B because is SO handy. The simpler the better. Commented Mar 31, 2018 at 15:01