this has been modified using a similar solution given in another post...
DECLARE @text varchar(75)
SET @text = 'this is multiple spaces reduced to one'
PRINT @text
PRINT DATALENGTH(@text)
WHILE 1 = 1
BEGIN
SET @text = REPLACE(@text, SPACE(2), SPACE(1))
IF CHARINDEX(SPACE(2), @text) = 0 BREAK
END
PRINT DATALENGTH(@text)
SELECT @text
**ASCII stupid question, get a stupid ANSI !!!**