preserve indentation levels

evennia/objects/objects.py

@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ from evennia.utils.utils import (
     iter_to_str,
     lazy_property,
     make_iter,
-    strip_extra_whitespace,
+    compress_whitespace,
     to_str,
     variable_from_module,
 )
@@ -1446,7 +1446,7 @@ class DefaultObject(ObjectDB, metaclass=TypeclassBase):
             str: The final formatted output.
 
         """
-        return strip_extra_whitespace(appearance).strip()
+        return compress_whitespace(appearance).strip()
 
     def return_appearance(self, looker, **kwargs):
         """

evennia/utils/tests/test_utils.py

@@ -54,21 +54,30 @@ class TestDedent(TestCase):
         self.assertEqual(expected_string, utils.dedent(input_string))
 
 
-class TestStripWhitespace(TestCase):
+class TestCompressWhitespace(TestCase):
-    def test_strip_extra_whitespace(self):
+    def test_compress_whitespace(self):
         # No text, return no text
-        self.assertEqual("", utils.strip_extra_whitespace(""))
+        self.assertEqual("", utils.compress_whitespace(""))
         # If no whitespace is exceeded, should return the same
-        self.assertEqual("One line\nTwo  spaces", utils.strip_extra_whitespace("One line\nTwo  spaces"))
+        self.assertEqual("One line\nTwo  spaces", utils.compress_whitespace("One line\nTwo  spaces"))
         # Extra newlines are removed
-        self.assertEqual("First line\nSecond line", utils.strip_extra_whitespace("First line\n\nSecond line"))
+        self.assertEqual("First line\nSecond line", utils.compress_whitespace("First line\n\nSecond line"))
         # Extra spaces are removed
-        self.assertEqual("Too  many  spaces", utils.strip_extra_whitespace("Too   many      spaces"))
+        self.assertEqual("Too  many  spaces", utils.compress_whitespace("Too   many      spaces"))
         # "Invisible" extra lines with whitespace are removed
-        self.assertEqual("First line\nSecond line", utils.strip_extra_whitespace("First line\n    \n \nSecond line"))
+        self.assertEqual("First line\nSecond line", utils.compress_whitespace("First line\n    \n \nSecond line"))
         # Max kwargs are respected
-        self.assertEqual("First line\n\nSecond line", utils.strip_extra_whitespace("First line\n\nSecond  line", max_spacing=1, max_linebreaks=2))
+        self.assertEqual("First line\n\nSecond line", utils.compress_whitespace("First line\n\nSecond  line", max_spacing=1, max_linebreaks=2))
 
+    def test_preserve_indents(self):
+        """Ensure that indentation spacing is preserved."""
+        indented = """\
+Hanging Indents
+    they're great
+    let's keep them\
+"""
+        # since there is no doubled-up spacing besides indents, input should equal output
+        self.assertEqual(indented, utils.compress_whitespace(indented))
 
 class TestListToString(TestCase):
     """

evennia/utils/utils.py

@@ -474,14 +474,14 @@ iter_to_string = iter_to_str
 
 re_empty = re.compile("\n\s*\n")
 
-def strip_extra_whitespace(text, max_linebreaks=1, max_spacing=2):
+def compress_whitespace(text, max_linebreaks=1, max_spacing=2):
     """
     Removes extra sequential whitespace in a block of text. This will also remove any trailing
     whitespace at the end.
 
     Args:
         text (str):   A string which may contain excess internal whitespace.
-        
+
     Keyword args:
         max_linebreaks (int):  How many linebreak characters are allowed to occur in a row.
         max_spacing (int):     How many spaces are allowed to occur in a row.
@@ -492,11 +492,11 @@ def strip_extra_whitespace(text, max_linebreaks=1, max_spacing=2):
     # this allows the blank-line compression to eliminate them if needed
     text = re_empty.sub("\n\n", text)
     # replace groups of extra spaces with the maximum number of spaces
-    text = re.sub(f" {{{max_spacing},}}", " "*max_spacing, text)
+    text = re.sub(f"(?<=\S) {{{max_spacing},}}", " "*max_spacing, text)
     # replace groups of extra newlines with the maximum number of newlines
     text = re.sub(f"\n{{{max_linebreaks},}}", "\n"*max_linebreaks, text)
     return text
-    
+
 
 def wildcard_to_regexp(instring):
     """