Compress a string

[Matt Porter]

Hi guys,

I'm trying to compress a string.
E.g:
  "AAAABBBC" -> "ABC"

The code I have so far feels like it could be made clearer and more  
succinct, but a solution is currently escaping me.


def compress_str(str):
     new_str = ""
     for i, c in enumerate(str):
         try:
             if c != str[i+1]:
                 new_str += c
         except IndexError:
             new_str += c
     return new_str


Cheers
Matt
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