NSString *s = @"this is a string with lots of white space"; NSArray *comps = [s componentsSeparatedByCharactersInSet:[NSCharacterSet whitespaceCharacterSet]]; NSMutableArray *words = [NSMutableArray array]; for(NSString *comp in comps) { if([comp length] > )) { [words addObject:comp]; } } NSString *result = [words componentsJoinedByString:@" "];