re = /\s*([^\w\s]|_)\1+/m
str = 'Great talking with you. ? See you, the other guys and Mr. Jack Daniels next week, I hope-- ? Bobette ? ? Bobette Riner??????????????????????????????? Senior Power Markets Analyst?????? TradersNews Energy 713/647-8690 FAX: 713/647-7552 cell: 832/428-7008 bobette.riner@ipgdirect.com http://www.tradersnewspower.com ? ? - cinhrly020101.doc'
subst = '\\1'
result = str.gsub(re, subst)
# Print the result of the substitution
puts result
Please keep in mind that these code samples are automatically generated and are not guaranteed to work. If you find any syntax errors, feel free to submit a bug report. For a full regex reference for Ruby, please visit: http://ruby-doc.org/core-2.2.0/Regexp.html