Question: I am using `nl2br()` to convert `\n` characters to the `<br />` tag but I do not want more than one `<br />` tag at a time. For example, `Hello \n\n\n\n Everybody` should become `Hello <br /> Everybody`.

How can I do this?

Answer: 
If you have php 5.2.4+ you can use preg\_replace and the vertical whitespace character type `\v`

```
$str = preg_replace('/\v+/','<br>', $str);

```
I'd try replacing repeated newlines with single newlines using preg\_replace() first, then using nl2br to convert to HTML   
 tags. `nl2br(preg_replace('/\n+/', '\n', $the_string))` should do the trick (untested).