# If you'd like to omit non-matching lines from the result; add ';d' to the end of the expression.
sed -E 's/((?:\s|^)([a-z])\2+)(?=\s|$)|([a-z])(?=\3)/$1/g;t' <<< "aaa baaab xxx
ahhj aaab cc iiik
bbb ahhj aaab cc iiik xxx fjjj baaaaaab yyyaaa
#$aa$aa#aaa bbb
aaa aaa
test aaaaa aaaaa aaaa
aaa aaa d$test#dd!aaaa$ddd !dd#fdg5$hhaaa^%bb zzzzz"
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 SED, please visit: https://www.gnu.org/software/sed/manual/html_node/The-_0022s_0022-Command.html