--- /dev/null	Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 1970 +0000
+++ b/condense_characters.pl	Tue Dec 04 10:53:39 2012 -0500
@@ -0,0 +1,105 @@
+#! /usr/bin/perl -w
+
+use strict;
+use warnings;
+
+# condenses all consecutive characters of one type
+# convert_characters.pl [input] [character] [output]
+
+die "Check arguments" unless @ARGV == 3;
+
+my $inputfile = $ARGV[0];
+my $character = $ARGV[1];
+my $outputfile = $ARGV[2];
+
+
+my $convert_from;
+my $convert_to;
+
+
+if ($character eq "s")
+{
+    $convert_from = '\s';
+}
+elsif ($character eq "T")
+{
+    $convert_from = '\t';
+}
+elsif ($character eq "Sp")
+{
+    $convert_from = " ";
+}
+elsif ($character eq "Dt")
+{
+    $convert_from = '\.';
+}
+elsif ($character eq "C")
+{
+    $convert_from = ",";
+}
+elsif ($character eq "D")
+{
+    $convert_from = "-";
+}
+elsif ($character eq "U")
+{
+    $convert_from = "_";
+}
+elsif ($character eq "P")
+{
+    $convert_from = '\|';
+}
+else
+{
+    die "Invalid value specified for convert from\n";
+}
+
+
+if ($character eq "T")
+{
+    $convert_to = "\t";
+}
+elsif ($character eq "Sp")
+{
+    $convert_to = " ";
+}
+elsif ($character eq "Dt")
+{
+    $convert_to = "\.";
+}
+elsif ($character eq "C")
+{
+    $convert_to = ",";
+}
+elsif ($character eq "D")
+{
+    $convert_to = "-";
+}
+elsif ($character eq "U")
+{
+    $convert_to = "_";
+}
+elsif ($character eq "P")
+{
+    $convert_to = "|";
+}
+else
+{
+    die "Invalid value specified for Convert to\n";
+}
+
+my $fhIn;
+open ($fhIn, "< $inputfile") or die "Cannot open source file";
+
+my $fhOut;
+open ($fhOut, "> $outputfile");
+
+while (<$fhIn>)
+{
+    my $thisLine = $_;
+    chomp $thisLine;
+    $thisLine =~ s/${convert_from}+/$convert_to/g;
+    print $fhOut $thisLine,"\n";    
+}
+close ($fhIn) or die "Cannot close source file";
+close ($fhOut) or die "Cannot close output file";