# File:    deSpacer3.py
# Author:  Dr. Gibson
# Date:    4/10/2017
# Section: N/A
# E-mail:  k.gibson@umbc.edu 
# Description:
#   This file contains python code that opens a file called "spaced.txt",
#   counts and removes all of the whitespace, prints out the count,
#   and saves the result to a file called "unspaced.txt"

def main():

    # open a file for reading (spaced.txt)
    inFile = open("spaced.txt", "r")

    # read in the whole thing as a list of strings
    listOfLines = inFile.readlines()

    # use nested for loops to iterate over all the strings, counting the
    # whitespace characters, and adding non-whitespace to a new string
    count = 0
    unspaced = ""
    for line in listOfLines:   # this loop iterates over each line
        for ch in line:        # this loop iterates over chars in a line
            # if it's a whitespace character, count it
            if ch == " " or ch == "\t" or ch == "\n":
                count += 1
            # otherwise, append it to a string containing the other characters
            else:
                unspaced = unspaced + ch

    print("There were", count, "spacing characters in the file")

    # create a new file, by opening it for writing (unspaced.txt)
    outFile = open("unspaced.txt", "w")

    # write the new stuff to the file
    outFile.write(unspaced)

    # close BOTH files
    inFile.close()
    outFile.close()

main()