Which of the following commands will reduce all consecutive spaces down to a single space?
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A. B. C. D. E.E
The correct answer is E. tr -s ' ' < a.txt > b.txt.
The tr command is used to translate, delete or squeeze characters. Here, we want to squeeze consecutive spaces down to a single space.
Let's go through the options:
A. tr '\s' ' ' < a.txt > b.txt: This command replaces all whitespace characters with a single space. It will replace spaces, tabs, and newlines with a space. So, it won't reduce consecutive spaces down to a single space.
B. tr -c ' ' < a.txt > b.txt: This command replaces all characters except spaces with a space. It won't reduce consecutive spaces down to a single space.
C. tr -d ' ' < a.txt > b.txt: This command deletes all spaces. It won't reduce consecutive spaces down to a single space.
D. tr -r ' ' '\n' < a.txt > b.txt: This command replaces all spaces with newlines. It won't reduce consecutive spaces down to a single space.
E. tr -s ' ' < a.txt > b.txt: This command squeezes consecutive spaces down to a single space. It will replace all consecutive spaces with a single space, reducing the number of spaces.
So, the correct command to reduce all consecutive spaces down to a single space is tr -s ' ' < a.txt > b.txt.