re = /((?: |^)([\p{L}\p{M}])\2+(?= |$))|([\p{L}\p{M}])(?=\3)/
str = 'aaa baaab xxx
ahhj aaab cc iiik
bbb ahhj aaab cc iiik xxx fjjj baaaaaab yyyaaa
#$aa$aa#aaa bbb
aaa aaa
test aaaaa aaaaa aaaa
aaa aaa d$test#dd!aaaa$ddd !dd#fdg5$hhaaa^%bb zzzzz
ááá áább çç ççç ábbá'
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