How to replace any number of repeating characters in a string or character array

I have Evil input text from which I need to extract tabular data for csv output.

The principle challenge is removing any number of the repeating .... character, while not removing single instances of a period.

I'd like to replace the repeating character with a comma so that the text can be turned into a CSV-style output. Note that there are other commas also present that should remain.

Here's an example.

EVIL TEXT INPUT:

Riots, Tips and Other Cleverness:................................$49,000.21

Submission Flavor:.............................................Original document

REQUIRED CLEAN CSV OUTPUT:

'Riots, Tips and Other Cleverness',49000.21

'Submission Flavor','Original document'

Answer 1

[Ameer Hamza]

Something like this

str = fileread('test.txt');
new_str = regexprep(str, ':\.{2,}', ',')

Result

new_str =
    'Riots, Tips and Other Cleverness,$49,000.21
     Submission Flavor,Original document'

[CdC]

Thank you!

Answer 2

[CdC]

Found another approach that works better in this context:

test = 'Riots, Tips and Other Cleverness:................................$49,000.21';

C = strsplit(test,'..'); % >> cell array ans = {'Riots, Tips and Other Cleverness:'} {'$49,000.21'}