The 's' replaces a single Area match at any given time nevertheless the 's+' replaces the whole Place sequence simultaneously with the 2nd parameter. On the other hand x.replaceAll("\s+", ""); might be a lot more effective way of trimming spaces (if string might have a number of contiguous Areas) mainly https://dominickizods.bloggazzo.com/30651817/considerations-to-know-about-s