Run-length encoding

From Rosetta Code
This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Run-length_encoding. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Rosetta Code, the text of Wikipedia is available under the GNU FDL. (See links for details on variance)
Task
Run-length encoding
You are encouraged to solve this task according to the task description, using any language you may know.


Task

Given a string containing uppercase characters (A-Z), compress repeated 'runs' of the same character by storing the length of that run, and provide a function to reverse the compression.

The output can be anything, as long as you can recreate the input with it.


Example
Input: WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
Output: 12W1B12W3B24W1B14W


Note: the encoding step in the above example is the same as a step of the Look-and-say sequence.

11l

Translation of: Python
F encode(input_string)
   V count = 1
   V prev = Char("\0")
   [(Char, Int)] lst
   L(character) input_string
      I character != prev
         I prev != Char("\0")
            lst.append((prev, count))
         count = 1
         prev = character
      E
         count++
   lst.append((input_string.last, count))
   R lst

F decode(lst)
   V q = ‘’
   L(character, count) lst
      q ‘’= character * count
   R q

V value = encode(‘aaaaahhhhhhmmmmmmmuiiiiiiiaaaaaa’)
print(‘Encoded value is ’value.map(v -> String(v[1])‘’v[0]))
print(‘Decoded value is ’decode(value))
Output:
Encoded value is [5a, 6h, 7m, 1u, 7i, 6a]
Decoded value is aaaaahhhhhhmmmmmmmuiiiiiiiaaaaaa

8086 Assembly

Output is in hexadecimal but is otherwise correct.

        .model small       ; 128k .exe file
        .stack 1024        ; load SP with 0400h
        .data              ; no data segment needed

	.code
	
start:

	mov ax,@code
	mov ds,ax
	mov es,ax
	
	mov si,offset TestString
	mov di,offset OutputRam
	
	cld
	
compressRLE:
	lodsb
	cmp al,0                     ;null terminator?
	jz finished_Compressing      ;if so, exit
	push di
	push si
		mov cx,0FFFFh	;exit after 65536 reps or the run length ends.
		xchg di,si      ;scasb only works with es:di so we need to exchange
		repz scasb   	;repeat until [es:di] != AL
		xchg di,si      ;exchange back
	pop dx                  ;pop the old SI into DX instead!
	pop di
	
	push si
		sub si,dx
		mov dx,si
	pop si
	;now the run length is in dx, store it into output ram.

	push ax 
		mov al,dl
		stosb
	pop ax
	stosb    ;store the letter that corresponds to the run

	
	dec si   ;we're off by one, so we need to correct for that.
	jmp compressRLE   ;back to start
	
finished_Compressing:

	
	mov bp, offset OutputRam
	mov bx, 32
	call doMemDump        ;displays a hexdump of the contents of OutputRam


	
	mov ax,4C00h
	int 21h		      ;exit DOS
	
	
TestString byte "WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW",0

OutputRam byte 256 dup (0)

end start
Output:
0C 57 01 42 0C 57 03 42 .W.B.W.B
18 57 01 42 0E 57 00 00 .W.B.W..
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........
00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........

The hexdump above converts to: 12W 1B 12W 3B 24W 1B 14W

Action!

BYTE FUNC GetLength(CHAR ARRAY s BYTE pos)
  CHAR c
  BYTE len

  c=s(pos)
  len=1
  DO
    pos==+1
    IF pos<=s(0) AND s(pos)=c THEN
      len==+1
    ELSE
      EXIT
    FI
  OD
RETURN (len)

BYTE FUNC GetNumber(CHAR ARRAY s BYTE POINTER pos)
  BYTE num,len
  CHAR ARRAY tmp(5)

  len=0
  DO
    len==+1
    tmp(len)=s(pos^)
    pos^==+1
    IF s(pos^)<'0 OR s(pos^)>'9 THEN
      EXIT
    FI
  OD
  tmp(0)=len
  num=ValB(tmp)
RETURN (num)

PROC Append(CHAR ARRAY text,suffix)
  BYTE POINTER srcPtr,dstPtr
  BYTE len

  len=suffix(0)
  IF text(0)+len>255 THEN
    len=255-text(0)
  FI
  IF len THEN
    srcPtr=suffix+1
    dstPtr=text+text(0)+1
    MoveBlock(dstPtr,srcPtr,len)
    text(0)==+suffix(0)
  FI
RETURN

PROC Encode(CHAR ARRAY in,out)
  BYTE pos,len
  CHAR ARRAY tmp(5)

  pos=1 len=0 out(0)=0
  WHILE pos<=in(0)
  DO
    len=GetLength(in,pos)
    StrB(len,tmp)
    Append(out,tmp)
    out(0)==+1
    out(out(0))=in(pos)
    pos==+len
  OD
RETURN

PROC Decode(CHAR ARRAY in,out)
  BYTE pos,num,i
  CHAR c

  pos=1 out(0)=0
  WHILE pos<=in(0)
  DO
    num=GetNumber(in,@pos)
    c=in(pos)
    pos==+1
    FOR i=1 TO num
    DO
      out(0)==+1
      out(out(0))=c
    OD
  OD
RETURN

PROC Main()
  CHAR ARRAY data="WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW"
  CHAR ARRAY encoded(256),decoded(256)

  PrintE("original:")
  PrintE(data)
  PutE()

  Encode(data,encoded)
  PrintE("encoded:")
  PrintE(encoded)
  PutE()

  Decode(encoded,decoded)
  PrintE("decoded:")
  PrintE(decoded)
RETURN
Output:

Screenshot from Atari 8-bit computer

original:
WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

encoded:
12W1B12W3B24W1B14W

decoded:
WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

Ada

with Ada.Text_IO;        use Ada.Text_IO;
with Ada.Strings.Fixed;  use Ada.Strings.Fixed;
procedure Test_Run_Length_Encoding is
   function Encode (Data : String) return String is
   begin
      if Data'Length = 0 then
         return "";
      else
         declare
            Code  : constant Character := Data (Data'First);
            Index : Integer := Data'First + 1;
         begin
            while Index <= Data'Last and then Code = Data (Index) loop
               Index := Index + 1;
            end loop;
            declare
               Prefix : constant String := Integer'Image (Index - Data'First);
            begin
               return Prefix (2..Prefix'Last) & Code & Encode (Data (Index..Data'Last));
            end;
         end;
      end if;
   end Encode;
   function Decode (Data : String) return String is
   begin
      if Data'Length = 0 then
         return "";
      else
         declare
            Index : Integer := Data'First;
            Count : Natural := 0;
         begin
            while Index < Data'Last and then Data (Index) in '0'..'9' loop
               Count := Count * 10 + Character'Pos (Data (Index)) - Character'Pos ('0');
               Index := Index + 1;
            end loop;
            if Index > Data'First then
               return Count * Data (Index) & Decode (Data (Index + 1..Data'Last));
            else
               return Data;
            end if;
         end;
      end if;
   end Decode;
begin
   Put_Line (Encode ("WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW"));
   Put_Line (Decode ("12W1B12W3B24W1B14W"));
end Test_Run_Length_Encoding;

Sample output:

12W1B12W3B24W1B14W
WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

ALGOL 68

Works with: ALGOL 68 version Revision 1 - no extensions to language used
Works with: ALGOL 68G version Any - tested with release 1.18.0-9h.tiny
Works with: ELLA ALGOL 68 version Any (with appropriate job cards) - tested with release 1.8-8d

Note: The following uses iterators, eliminating the need of declaring arbitrarily large CHAR arrays for caching.

STRING input := "WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW";
STRING output := "12W1B12W3B24W1B14W";

MODE YIELDCHAR = PROC(CHAR)VOID;
MODE GENCHAR = PROC(YIELDCHAR)VOID;

PROC gen char string = (REF STRING s, YIELDCHAR yield)VOID:
  FOR i FROM LWB s TO UPB s DO yield(s[i]) OD;

CO
# Note: The following 2 lines use currying. This not supported by ELLA ALGOL 68RS #
GENCHAR input seq = gen char string(input,),
        output seq = gen char string(output,);
END CO

GENCHAR
  input seq = (YIELDCHAR yield)VOID: gen char string(input, yield),
  output seq = (YIELDCHAR yield)VOID: gen char string(output, yield);

PROC gen encode = (GENCHAR gen char, YIELDCHAR yield)VOID: (
  INT count := 0;
  CHAR prev;
# FOR CHAR c IN # gen char( # ) DO ( #
##   (CHAR c)VOID: (
      IF count = 0 THEN
        count := 1;
        prev := c
      ELIF c NE prev THEN
        STRING str count := whole(count,0);
        gen char string(str count, yield); count := 1;
        yield(prev); prev := c
      ELSE
        count +:=1
      FI
# OD # ));
  IF count NE 0 THEN
    STRING str count := whole(count,0);
    gen char string(str count,yield);
    yield(prev)
  FI
);

STRING zero2nine = "0123456789";

PROC gen decode = (GENCHAR gen char, YIELDCHAR yield)VOID: (
  INT repeat := 0;
# FOR CHAR c IN # gen char( # ) DO ( #
##   (CHAR c)VOID: (
    IF char in string(c, LOC INT, zero2nine) THEN
      repeat := repeat*10 + ABS c - ABS "0"
    ELSE
      FOR i TO repeat DO yield(c) OD;
      repeat := 0
    FI
# OD #  ))
);

# iterate through input string #
print("Encode input: ");
# FOR CHAR c IN # gen encode(input seq, # ) DO ( #
##   (CHAR c)VOID:
    print(c)
# OD # );
print(new line);

# iterate through output string #
print("Decode output: ");
# FOR CHAR c IN # gen decode(output seq, # ) DO ( #
##   (CHAR c)VOID:
    print(c)
# OD # );
print(new line)

Output:

Encode input: 12W1B12W3B24W1B14W
Decode output: WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

Amazing Hopper

/*
    TASK BASIC-EMBEBIDO de HOPPER

    onechar("WB",objetivo)  
         deja un único carcater de todos los que encuentre consecutivamente,
         de la lista de caracteres "WB".
    
    índice:=()
         copia el valor de la función entre paréntesis en "índice", pero
         deja ese valor en el stack de trabajo, para ser asignado a "largo".
    
    poschar(INICIO, v, objetivo)
         entrega la posición donde el caracter dado "v" deja de repetirse
         (por eso se resta 1 al resultado).
    
    objetivo+=sublargo
         borra los primeros sublargo-ésimo caracteres.
    
    #basic{...} / #(...)
         BASIC embebido de Hopper.
*/

#include <basico.h>

#define INICIO  1
#proto codificar(_X_,_Y_,_Z_)
#proto decodificar(_X_,_Y_)

principal {
    
    índice="", largo=0, codificado="", decodificado=""
    objetivo = "WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW"

    decimales '0', fijar separador 'NULO'
    
    #basic{
       largo = len(índice:=( onechar("WB",objetivo) ) )
       print ("Original     =",objetivo,NL)

       codificado   = codificar(objetivo, índice, largo)
       decodificado = decodificar(codificado, índice)
       
       print ("Codificado   =",codificado,"\nDecodificado =",decodificado,NL)
    }
    terminar
}

subrutinas

codificar( o, i, l)
    v="", sublargo=0
    para cada caracter ( v, i, l )
        /* deja ésto en el stack de trabajo: */
         #( sublargo := (poschar(INICIO, v, o) - 1 ) ), 'v'
         o+=sublargo
    siguiente
    unir esto
retornar

decodificar(c, i)
    v="", posición=0, l=0
    #( l=len(i) )
    para cada caracter ( v, i, l )
         #basic{
             posición = find(v, c)-1
           /* deja ésto en el stack de trabajo: */
             replicate(v, number(copy(posición,1,c)) )
         }
         ++posición,c+=posición
    siguiente
    unir esto
retornar
Output:
Original     =WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
Codificado   =12W1B12W3B24W1B14W
Decodificado =WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

APL

     retRLL rll;count
[1]   count2-/((1,(2/rll),1)×⍳1+⍴rll)~0
[2]   ret(count,¨(1,2/rll)/rll)~' '
    

Sample Output:

      RLL 'WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW'
12W1B12W3B24W1B14W

AppleScript

------------------ RUN-LENGTH ENCODING‎‎ -----------------

-- encode :: String -> String
on encode(s)
    script go
        on |λ|(cs)
            if {}  cs then
                set c to text 1 of cs
                set {chunk, residue} to span(eq(c), rest of cs)
                (c & (1 + (length of chunk)) as string) & |λ|(residue)
            else
                ""
            end if
        end |λ|
    end script
    |λ|(characters of s) of go
end encode


-- decode :: String -> String
on decode(s)
    script go
        on |λ|(cs)
            if {}  cs then
                set {ds, residue} to span(my isDigit, rest of cs)
                set n to (ds as string) as integer
                replicate(n, item 1 of cs) & |λ|(residue)
            else
                ""
            end if
        end |λ|
    end script
    |λ|(characters of s) of go
end decode


--------------------------- TEST -------------------------
on run
    set src to ¬
        "WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW"
    set encoded to encode(src)
    set decoded to decode(encoded)
    
    unlines({encoded, decoded, src = decoded})
end run


-------------------- GENERIC FUNCTIONS -------------------

-- eq :: a -> a -> Bool
on eq(a)
    -- True if a and b are equivalent in terms
    -- of the AppleScript (=) operator.
    script go
        on |λ|(b)
            a = b
        end |λ|
    end script
end eq


-- isDigit :: Char -> Bool
on isDigit(c)
    set n to (id of c)
    48  n and 57  n
end isDigit


-- mReturn :: First-class m => (a -> b) -> m (a -> b)
on mReturn(f)
    -- 2nd class handler function lifted into 1st class script wrapper. 
    if script is class of f then
        f
    else
        script
            property |λ| : f
        end script
    end if
end mReturn


-- Egyptian multiplication - progressively doubling a list, appending
-- stages of doubling to an accumulator where needed for binary 
-- assembly of a target length
-- replicate :: Int -> String -> String
on replicate(n, s)
    -- Egyptian multiplication - progressively doubling a list, 
    -- appending stages of doubling to an accumulator where needed 
    -- for binary assembly of a target length
    script p
        on |λ|({n})
            n  1
        end |λ|
    end script
    
    script f
        on |λ|({n, dbl, out})
            if (n mod 2) > 0 then
                set d to out & dbl
            else
                set d to out
            end if
            {n div 2, dbl & dbl, d}
        end |λ|
    end script
    
    set xs to |until|(p, f, {n, s, ""})
    item 2 of xs & item 3 of xs
end replicate


-- span :: (a -> Bool) -> [a] -> ([a], [a])
on span(p, xs)
    -- The longest (possibly empty) prefix of xs
    -- that contains only elements satisfying p,
    -- tupled with the remainder of xs.
    -- span(p, xs) eq (takeWhile(p, xs), dropWhile(p, xs)) 
    script go
        property mp : mReturn(p)
        on |λ|(vs)
            if {}  vs then
                set x to item 1 of vs
                if |λ|(x) of mp then
                    set {ys, zs} to |λ|(rest of vs)
                    {{x} & ys, zs}
                else
                    {{}, vs}
                end if
            else
                {{}, {}}
            end if
        end |λ|
    end script
    |λ|(xs) of go
end span


-- unlines :: [String] -> String
on unlines(xs)
    -- A single string formed by the intercalation
    -- of a list of strings with the newline character.
    set {dlm, my text item delimiters} to ¬
        {my text item delimiters, linefeed}
    set s to xs as text
    set my text item delimiters to dlm
    s
end unlines


-- until :: (a -> Bool) -> (a -> a) -> a -> a
on |until|(p, f, x)
    set v to x
    set mp to mReturn(p)
    set mf to mReturn(f)
    repeat until mp's |λ|(v)
        set v to mf's |λ|(v)
    end repeat
    v
end |until|
Output:
W12B1W12B3W24B1W14
WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
true

Arturo

runlengthEncode: function [s][
    join map chunk split s => [&] 'x ->
        (to :string size x) ++ first x
]

runlengthDecode: function [s][
    result: new ""
    loop (chunk split s 'x -> positive? size match x {/\d+/}) [a,b] ->
        'result ++ repeat first b to :integer join to [:string] a
    return result
]

str: "WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW"

encoded: runlengthEncode str
print ["encoded:" encoded]

decoded: runlengthDecode encoded
print ["decoded:" decoded]

if decoded=str -> print "\nSuccess!"
Output:
encoded: 12W1B12W3B24W1B14W 
decoded: WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW 

Success!

AutoHotkey

MsgBox % key := rle_encode("WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW")
MsgBox % rle_decode(key)

rle_encode(message)
{
  StringLeft, previous, message, 1
  StringRight, last, message, 1
  message .= Asc(Chr(last)+1)
  count = 0
  Loop, Parse, message
  {
    If (previous == A_LoopField)
      count +=1
    Else
    {
      output .= previous . count
      previous := A_LoopField 
      count = 1
    }
  }
  Return output
}

rle_decode(message)
{
  pos = 1
  While, item := RegExMatch(message, "\D", char, pos)
  {
    digpos := RegExMatch(message, "\d+", dig, item)
    Loop, % dig
      output .= char
    pos := digpos 
  }
  Return output
}

AWK

Works with: gawk

It works with "textual" input. Lines containing numbers are skipped, since they can't be represented in a not ambiguous way in this implementation (e.g. "11AA" would be encoded as "212A", which would be decoded as A repeated 212 times!)

Encoding

BEGIN {
 FS=""
}
/^[^0-9]+$/ {
  cp = $1; j = 0
  for(i=1; i <= NF; i++) {
    if ( $i == cp ) {
      j++; 
    } else {
      printf("%d%c", j, cp)
      j = 1
    }
    cp = $i
  }
  printf("%d%c", j, cp)
}

Decoding

BEGIN {
  RS="[0-9]+[^0-9]"
  final = "";
}
{
  match(RT, /([0-9]+)([^0-9])/, r)
  for(i=0; i < int(r[1]); i++) {
    final = final r[2]
  }
}
END {
  print final
}

BaCon

FUNCTION Rle_Encode$(txt$)

    LOCAL result$, c$ = LEFT$(txt$, 1)
    LOCAL total = 1

    FOR x = 2 TO LEN(txt$)
        IF c$ = MID$(txt$, x, 1) THEN
            INCR total
        ELSE
            result$ = result$ & STR$(total) & c$
            c$ = MID$(txt$, x, 1)
            total = 1
        END IF
    NEXT

    RETURN result$ & STR$(total) & c$

END FUNCTION

FUNCTION Rle_Decode$(txt$)

    LOCAL nr$, result$

    FOR x = 1 TO LEN(txt$)
        IF REGEX(MID$(txt$, x, 1), "[[:digit:]]") THEN
            nr$ = nr$ & MID$(txt$, x, 1)
        ELSE
            result$ = result$ & FILL$(VAL(nr$), ASC(MID$(txt$, x, 1)))
            nr$ = ""
        END IF
    NEXT

    RETURN result$

END FUNCTION

rle_data$ = "WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW"

PRINT "RLEData: ", rle_data$
encoded$ = Rle_Encode$(rle_data$)
PRINT "Encoded: ", encoded$
PRINT "Decoded: ", Rle_Decode$(encoded$)
Output:
RLEData: WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
Encoded: 12W1B12W3B24W1B14W
Decoded: WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

BASIC

Works with: QBasic
Translation of: PowerBASIC
DECLARE FUNCTION RLDecode$ (i AS STRING)
DECLARE FUNCTION RLEncode$ (i AS STRING)

DIM initial AS STRING, encoded AS STRING, decoded AS STRING

INPUT "Type something: ", initial
encoded = RLEncode(initial)
decoded = RLDecode(encoded)
PRINT initial
PRINT encoded
PRINT decoded

FUNCTION RLDecode$ (i AS STRING)
    DIM Loop0 AS LONG, rCount AS STRING, outP AS STRING, m AS STRING

    FOR Loop0 = 1 TO LEN(i)
        m = MID$(i, Loop0, 1)
        SELECT CASE m
            CASE "0" TO "9"
                rCount = rCount + m
            CASE ELSE
                IF LEN(rCount) THEN
                    outP = outP + STRING$(VAL(rCount), m)
                    rCount = ""
                ELSE
                    outP = outP + m
                END IF
        END SELECT
    NEXT
    RLDecode$ = outP
END FUNCTION

FUNCTION RLEncode$ (i AS STRING)
    DIM tmp1 AS STRING, tmp2 AS STRING, outP AS STRING
    DIM Loop0 AS LONG, rCount AS LONG

    tmp1 = MID$(i, 1, 1)
    tmp2 = tmp1
    rCount = 1

    FOR Loop0 = 2 TO LEN(i)
        tmp1 = MID$(i, Loop0, 1)
        IF tmp1 <> tmp2 THEN
            outP = outP + LTRIM$(RTRIM$(STR$(rCount))) + tmp2
            tmp2 = tmp1
            rCount = 1
        ELSE
            rCount = rCount + 1
        END IF
    NEXT

    outP = outP + LTRIM$(RTRIM$(STR$(rCount)))
    outP = outP + tmp2
    RLEncode$ = outP
END FUNCTION

Sample output (last one shows errors from using numbers in input string):

Type something: aaaaeeeeeeiiiioooouuy
aaaaeeeeeeiiiioooouuy
4a6e4i4o2u1y
aaaaeeeeeeiiiioooouuy

Type something: My dog has fleas.
My dog has fleas.
1M1y1 1d1o1g1 1h1a1s1 1f1l1e1a1s1.
My dog has fleas.

Type something: 1r
1r
111r
rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Applesoft BASIC

 10 I$ = "WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW"
 20  GOSUB 100ENCODE
 30  GOSUB 200DECODE
 40  PRINT "INPUT: ";I$
 50  PRINT "OUTPUT: ";
 60  GOSUB 250 PRINT 
 70  END 
 100 O$ =  MID$ (I$,1,1):N$ =  MID$ ( CHR$ (0),1, LEN (O$)): IF  LEN (I$) < 2 THEN  RETURN 
 110  FOR I = 2 TO  LEN (I$):C$ =  MID$ (I$,I,1): IF C$ <  >  RIGHT$ (O$,1) THEN O$ = O$ + C$:N$ = N$ +  CHR$ (0): NEXT I: RETURN 
 120 N$ =  MID$ (N$,1, LEN (O$) - 1) +  CHR$ ( ASC ( MID$ (N$, LEN (O$))) + 1): NEXT I: RETURN 
 200 I$ = "": IF  LEN (O$) THEN  FOR I = 1 TO  LEN (O$): FOR J = 0 TO  ASC ( MID$ (N$,I)):I$ = I$ +  MID$ (O$,I,1): NEXT J,I
 210  RETURN 
 250  IF  LEN (O$) THEN  FOR I = 1 TO  LEN (O$): PRINT  ASC ( MID$ (N$,I)) + 1; MID$ (O$,I,1);: NEXT I
 260  RETURN
Output:
INPUT: WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
OUTPUT: 12W1B12W3B24W1B14W

BASIC256

function FBString(lon, cad$)
	# Definimos la función String en BASIC256
	cadena$ = ""
	for a = 1 to lon
		cadena$ += cad$
	next a
	return cadena$
end function

function RLDecode(i$)
	rCount$ = "" : outP$ = ""

	for Loop0 = 1 to length(i$)
		m$ = mid(i$, Loop0, 1)
		begin case
			case m$ = "0"
				rCount$ += m$
			case m$ = "1"
				rCount$ += m$
			case m$ = "2"
				rCount$ += m$
			case m$ = "3"
				rCount$ += m$
			case m$ = "4"
				rCount$ += m$
			case m$ = "5"
				rCount$ += m$
			case m$ = "6"
				rCount$ += m$
			case m$ = "7"
				rCount$ += m$
			case m$ = "8"
				rCount$ += m$
			case m$ = "9"
				rCount$ += m$
			else
				if length(rCount$) then
					outP$ += FBString(int(rCount$), m$)
					rCount$ = ""
				else
					outP$ += m$
				end if
		end case
	next Loop0

	RLDecode = outP$
end function

function RLEncode(i$)
	outP$ = ""
	tmp1 = mid(i$, 1, 1)
	tmp2 = tmp1
	rCount = 1

	for Loop0 = 2 to length(i$)
		tmp1 = mid(i$, Loop0, 1)
		if tmp1 <> tmp2 then
			outP$ += string(rCount) + tmp2
			tmp2 = tmp1
			rCount = 1
		else
			rCount += 1
		end if
	next Loop0

	outP$ += replace(string(rCount)," ", "")
	outP$ += tmp2
	RLEncode = outP$
end function

input "Type something: ", initial
encoded$ = RLEncode(initial)
decoded$ = RLDecode(encoded$)
print initial
print encoded$
print decoded$
end
Output:

La salida es similar a la de BASIC, mostrada arriba.

BBC BASIC

The run counts are indicated by means of character codes in the range 131 to 255.

      input$ = "WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW"
      PRINT "Input:  " input$
      rle$ = FNencodeRLE(input$)
      output$ = FNdecodeRLE(rle$)
      PRINT "Output: " output$
      END
      
      DEF FNencodeRLE(text$)
      LOCAL n%, r%, c$, o$
      n% = 1
      WHILE n% <= LEN(text$)
        c$ = MID$(text$, n%, 1)
        n% += 1
        r% = 1
        WHILE c$ = MID$(text$, n%, 1) AND r% < 127
          r% += 1
          n% += 1
        ENDWHILE
        IF r% < 3 o$ += STRING$(r%, c$) ELSE o$ += CHR$(128+r%) + c$
      ENDWHILE
      = o$
      
      DEF FNdecodeRLE(rle$)
      LOCAL n%, c$, o$
      n% = 1
      WHILE n% <= LEN(rle$)
        c$ = MID$(rle$, n%, 1)
        n% += 1
        IF ASC(c$) > 128 THEN
          o$ += STRING$(ASC(c$)-128, MID$(rle$, n%, 1))
          n% += 1
        ELSE
          o$ += c$
        ENDIF
      ENDWHILE
      = o$

Befunge

Not the same format as in the example,it puts "n\n" at the beginning so you can pipe the output back in and receive the input. Pipe the output of the program-it's more reliable.

Works with: CCBI version 2.1
                    ~"y"- ~$         v
  <temp var for when char changes
format:
first,'n' and a newline.             :
a char then a                   v    _"n",v
number then a space continuously          9
example:                                  1
n                               >    v  ,+<
a5 b2
decoded:aaaaabb
the program is ended using   decoder
Ctrl-C on linux,or alt-f4
on windows.copy the output    >\v       encoder
of the program somewhere      ^_ $ v
to encode press y              :        > $11g:,  v
to decode pipe file in      >1-^   ~       v  +1\<
the output of the encoder   \  v<  $    ^     .\_^
starts with n,this is so    ^,:<\&~< _~:,>1>\:v>^
you can pipe it straight in              ^        <
                                              ~
the spaces seem to be a annoying thing        :
thanks to CCBI...if a interpreter dosen't     1
create them it's non-conforming and thus      1
the validity of this program is NOT affected  p-
                                              >^
--written by Gamemanj,for Rosettacode

Bracmat

  ( run-length
  = character otherCharacter acc begin end
    .   :?acc
      & 0:?begin
      & @( !arg
         :   ?
             [!begin
             %@?character
             ?
             [?end
             (   (%@:~!character:?otherCharacter) ?
               & !acc !end+-1*!begin !character:?acc
               & !otherCharacter:?character
               & !end:?begin
               & ~`
             | &!acc !end+-1*!begin !character:?acc
             )
         )
      & str$!acc
  )
&   run-length$WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
  12W1B12W3B24W1B14W

Burlesque

"WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW"
=[{^^[~\/L[Sh}\m

C

Encoder that can deal with byte streams. Can encode/decode any byte values and any length with reasonable efficiency. Also showing OO and polymophism with structs.

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

typedef struct stream_t stream_t, *stream;
struct stream_t {
	/* get function is supposed to return a byte value (0-255),
		or -1 to signify end of input */
	int (*get)(stream);
	/* put function does output, one byte at a time */
	int (*put)(stream, int);
};

/* next two structs inherit from stream_t */
typedef struct {
	int (*get)(stream);
	int (*put)(stream, int);
	char *string;
	int pos;
} string_stream;

typedef struct {
	int (*get)(stream);
	int (*put)(stream, int);
	FILE *fp;
} file_stream;

/* methods for above streams */
int sget(stream in)
{
	int c;
	string_stream* s = (string_stream*) in;
	c = (unsigned char)(s->string[s->pos]);
	if (c == '\0') return -1;
	s->pos++;
	return c;
}

int sput(stream out, int c)
{
	string_stream* s = (string_stream*) out;
	s->string[s->pos++] = (c == -1) ? '\0' : c;
	if (c == -1) s->pos = 0;
	return 0;
}

int file_put(stream out, int c)
{
	file_stream *f = (file_stream*) out;
	return fputc(c, f->fp);
}

/* helper function */
void output(stream out, unsigned char* buf, int len)
{
	int i;
	out->put(out, 128 + len);
	for (i = 0; i < len; i++)
		out->put(out, buf[i]);
}

/* Specification: encoded stream are unsigned bytes consisting of sequences.
 * First byte of each sequence is the length, followed by a number of bytes.
 * If length <=128, the next byte is to be repeated length times;
 * If length > 128, the next (length - 128) bytes are not repeated.
 * this is to improve efficiency for long non-repeating sequences.
 * This scheme can encode arbitrary byte values efficiently.
 * c.f. Adobe PDF spec RLE stream encoding (not exactly the same)
 */
void encode(stream in, stream out)
{
	unsigned char buf[256];
	int len = 0, repeat = 0, end = 0, c;
	int (*get)(stream) = in->get;
	int (*put)(stream, int) = out->put;

	while (!end) {
		end = ((c = get(in)) == -1);
		if (!end) {
			buf[len++] = c;
			if (len <= 1) continue;
		}

		if (repeat) {
			if (buf[len - 1] != buf[len - 2])
				repeat = 0;
			if (!repeat || len == 129 || end) {
				/* write out repeating bytes */
				put(out, end ? len : len - 1);
				put(out, buf[0]);
				buf[0] = buf[len - 1];
				len = 1;
			}
		} else {
			if (buf[len - 1] == buf[len - 2]) {
				repeat = 1;
				if (len > 2) {
					output(out, buf, len - 2);
					buf[0] = buf[1] = buf[len - 1];
					len = 2;
				}
				continue;
			}
			if (len == 128 || end) {
				output(out, buf, len);
				len = 0;
				repeat = 0;
			}
		}
	}
	put(out, -1);
}

void decode(stream in, stream out)
{
	int c, i, cnt;
	while (1) {
		c = in->get(in);
		if (c == -1) return;
		if (c > 128) {
			cnt = c - 128;
			for (i = 0; i < cnt; i++)
				out->put(out, in->get(in));
		} else {
			cnt = c;
			c = in->get(in);
			for (i = 0; i < cnt; i++)
				out->put(out, c);
		}
	}
}

int main()
{
	char buf[256];
	string_stream str_in = { sget, 0,
		"WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW", 0};
	string_stream str_out = { sget, sput, buf, 0 };
	file_stream file = { 0, file_put, stdout };

	/* encode from str_in to str_out */
	encode((stream)&str_in, (stream)&str_out);

	/* decode from str_out to file (stdout) */
	decode((stream)&str_out, (stream)&file);

	return 0;
}

See Run-length encoding/C

C#

Linq

using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using static System.Console;
using static System.Linq.Enumerable;

namespace RunLengthEncoding
{
    static class Program
    {
          public static string Encode(string input) => input.Length ==0 ? "" : input.Skip(1)
            .Aggregate((t:input[0].ToString(),o:Empty<string>()),
               (a,c)=>a.t[0]==c ? (a.t+c,a.o) : (c.ToString(),a.o.Append(a.t)),
               a=>a.o.Append(a.t).Select(p => (key: p.Length, chr: p[0])))
            .Select(p=> $"{p.key}{p.chr}")
            .StringConcat();

        public static string Decode(string input) => input
            .Aggregate((t: "", o: Empty<string>()), (a, c) => !char.IsDigit(c) ? ("", a.o.Append(a.t+c)) : (a.t + c,a.o)).o 
            .Select(p => new string(p.Last(), int.Parse(string.Concat(p.Where(char.IsDigit)))))
            .StringConcat();

        private static string StringConcat(this IEnumerable<string> seq) => string.Concat(seq);
        
        public static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            const string  raw = "WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW";
            const string encoded = "12W1B12W3B24W1B14W";

            WriteLine($"raw = {raw}");
            WriteLine($"encoded = {encoded}");
            WriteLine($"Encode(raw) = encoded = {Encode(raw)}");
            WriteLine($"Decode(encode) = {Decode(encoded)}");
            WriteLine($"Decode(Encode(raw)) = {Decode(Encode(raw)) == raw}");
            ReadLine();
        }
    }
}

Output:

raw = WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
encoded = 12W1B12W3B24W1B14W
Encode(raw) = encoded = 12W1B12W3B24W1B14W
Decode(encode) = WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
Decode(Encode(raw)) = True

Many solutions do not follow the suggested output guideline in the challenge (not helped by its wording), instead producing a list of tuples or equivalent. This is much simpler (especially for decode) and the following provides an equivalent of those (IMHO deficient) solutions, to make comparisons easier.

using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using static System.Console;
namespace RunLengthEncoding
{
    static class Program
    {
         public static string Encode(string input) => input.Length ==0 ? "" : input.Skip(1)
            .Aggregate((t:input[0].ToString(),o:Empty<string>()),
               (a,c)=>a.t[0]==c ? (a.t+c,a.o) : (c.ToString(),a.o.Append(a.t)),
               a=>a.o.Append(a.t).Select(p => (key: p.Length, chr: p[0])));

        public static string Decode(IEnumerable<(int i , char c)> input) =>
            string.Concat(input.Select(t => new string(t.c, t.i)));

        public static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            const string  raw = "WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW";
            var encoded = new[] { (12, 'W'), (1, 'B'), (12, 'W'), (3, 'B'), (24, 'W'), (1, 'B'), (14, 'W') };

            WriteLine($"raw = {raw}");
            WriteLine($"Encode(raw) = encoded = {Encode(raw).TupleListToString()}");
            WriteLine($"Decode(encoded) = {Decode(encoded)}");
            WriteLine($"Decode(Encode(raw)) = {Decode(Encode(raw)) == raw}");
            ReadLine();
        }
        private static string TupleListToString(this IEnumerable<(int i, char c)> list) =>
            string.Join(",", list.Select(t => $"[{t.i},{t.c}]"));
    }
}

Output:

raw = WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
Encode(raw) = encoded = [12,W],[1,B],[12,W],[3,B],[24,W],[1,B],[14,W]
Decode(encoded) = WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
Decode(Encode(raw)) = True

Stringbuilder version. Might be more performant but mixes output formatting with encoding/decoding logic.

using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using static System.Console;
using static System.Text;

namespace RunLengthEncoding
{
    static class Program
    {
         public static string Encode(string input) => input.Length == 0 ? "" : input.Skip(1)
          .Aggregate((len: 1, chr: input[0], sb: new StringBuilder()),
             (a, c) => a.chr == c ? (a.len + 1, a.chr, a.sb) 
                                  : (1, c, a.sb.Append(a.len).Append(a.chr))),
             a => a.sb.Append(a.len).Append(a.chr)))
          .ToString();

         public static string Decode(string input) => input
           .Aggregate((t: "", sb: new StringBuilder()),
             (a, c) => !char.IsDigit(c) ? ("", a.sb.Append(new string(c, int.Parse(a.t)))) 
                                        : (a.t + c, a.sb))
           .sb.ToString();
        
        public static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            const string  raw = "WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW";
            const string encoded = "12W1B12W3B24W1B14W";

            WriteLine($"raw = {raw}");
            WriteLine($"encoded = {encoded}");
            WriteLine($"Encode(raw) = encoded = {Encode(raw)}");
            WriteLine($"Decode(encode) = {Decode(encoded)}");
            WriteLine($"Decode(Encode(raw)) = {Decode(Encode(raw)) == raw}");
            ReadLine();
        }
    }
}

Output:

raw = WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
encoded = 12W1B12W3B24W1B14W
Encode(raw) = encoded = 12W1B12W3B24W1B14W
Decode(encode) = WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
Decode(Encode(raw)) = True

Imperative

This example only works if there are no digits in the string to be encoded and then decoded.

       public static void Main(string[] args)
       {
           string input = "WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW";
           Console.WriteLine(Encode(input));//Outputs: 12W1B12W3B24W1B14W
           Console.WriteLine(Decode(Encode(input)));//Outputs: WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
           Console.ReadLine();
       }
       public static string Encode(string s)
       {
           StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
           int count = 1;
           char current =s[0];
           for(int i = 1; i < s.Length;i++)
           {
               if (current == s[i])
               {
                   count++;
               }
               else
               {
                   sb.AppendFormat("{0}{1}", count, current);
                   count = 1;
                   current = s[i];
               }
           }
           sb.AppendFormat("{0}{1}", count, current);
           return sb.ToString();
       }
       public static string Decode(string s)
       {
           string a = "";
           int count = 0;
           StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
           char current = char.MinValue;
           for(int i = 0; i < s.Length; i++)
           {
               current = s[i];
               if (char.IsDigit(current))
                   a += current;
               else
               {
                   count = int.Parse(a);
                   a = "";
                   for (int j = 0; j < count; j++)
                       sb.Append(current);
               }
           }
           return sb.ToString();
       }

RegEx

Somewhat shorter, using Regex.Replace with MatchEvaluator (using C#2 syntax only):

using System;
using System.Text.RegularExpressions;

public class Program
{
    private delegate void fOk(bool ok, string message);

    public static int Main(string[] args)
    {
        const string raw = "WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW";
        const string code = "12W1B12W3B24W1B14W";

        fOk Ok = delegate(bool ok, string message)
        {
            Console.WriteLine("{0}: {1}", ok ? "ok" : "not ok", message);
        };
        Ok(code.Equals(Encode(raw)), "Encode");
        Ok(raw.Equals(Decode(code)), "Decode");
        return 0;
    }

    public static string Encode(string input)
    {
        return Regex.Replace(input, @"(.)\1*", delegate(Match m)
        {
            return string.Concat(m.Value.Length, m.Groups[1].Value);
        });
    }

    public static string Decode(string input)
    {
        return Regex.Replace(input, @"(\d+)(\D)", delegate(Match m)
        {
            return new string(m.Groups[2].Value[0], int.Parse(m.Groups[1].Value));
        });
    }
}

C++

#include <algorithm>
#include <array>
#include <iterator>
#include <limits>
#include <tuple>

namespace detail_ {

// For constexpr digit<->number conversions.
constexpr auto digits = std::array{'0','1','2','3','4','5','6','7','8','9'};

// Helper function to encode a run-length.
template <typename OutputIterator>
constexpr auto encode_run_length(std::size_t n, OutputIterator out)
{
    constexpr auto base = digits.size();
    
    // Determine the number of digits needed.
    auto const num_digits = [base](auto n)
    {
        auto d = std::size_t{1};
        while ((n /= digits.size()))
            ++d;
        return d;
    }(n);
    
    // Helper lambda to raise the base to an integer power.
    auto base_power = [base](auto n)
    {
        auto res = decltype(base){1};
        for (auto i = decltype(n){1}; i < n; ++i)
            res *= base;
        return res;
    };
    
    // From the most significant digit to the least, output the digit.
    for (auto i = decltype(num_digits){0}; i < num_digits; ++i)
        *out++ = digits[(n / base_power(num_digits - i)) % base];
    
    return out;
}

// Helper function to decode a run-length.
// As of C++20, this can be constexpr, because std::find() is constexpr.
// Before C++20, it can be constexpr by emulating std::find().
template <typename InputIterator>
auto decode_run_length(InputIterator first, InputIterator last)
{
    auto count = std::size_t{0};
    
    while (first != last)
    {
        // If the next input character is not a digit, we're done.
        auto const p = std::find(digits.begin(), digits.end(), *first);
        if (p == digits.end())
            break;
        
        // Convert the digit to a number, and append it to the size.
        count *= digits.size();
        count += std::distance(digits.begin(), p);
        
        // Move on to the next input character.
        ++first;
    }
    
    return std::tuple{count, first};
}

} // namespace detail_

template <typename InputIterator, typename OutputIterator>
constexpr auto encode(InputIterator first, InputIterator last, OutputIterator out)
{
    while (first != last)
    {
        // Read the next value.
        auto const value = *first++;
        
        // Increase the count as long as the next value is the same.
        auto count = std::size_t{1};
        while (first != last && *first == value)
        {
            ++count;
            ++first;
        }
        
        // Write the value and its run length.
        out = detail_::encode_run_length(count, out);
        *out++ = value;
    }
    
    return out;
}

// As of C++20, this can be constexpr, because std::find() and
// std::fill_n() are constexpr (and decode_run_length() can be
// constexpr, too).
// Before C++20, it can be constexpr by emulating std::find() and
// std::fill_n().
template <typename InputIterator, typename OutputIterator>
auto decode(InputIterator first, InputIterator last, OutputIterator out)
{
    while (first != last)
    {
        using detail_::digits;
        
        // Assume a run-length of 1, then try to decode the actual
        // run-length, if any.
        auto count = std::size_t{1};
        if (std::find(digits.begin(), digits.end(), *first) != digits.end())
            std::tie(count, first) = detail_::decode_run_length(first, last);
        
        // Write the run.
        out = std::fill_n(out, count, *first++);
    }
    
    return out;
}

template <typename Range, typename OutputIterator>
constexpr auto encode(Range&& range, OutputIterator out)
{
    using std::begin;
    using std::end;
    
    return encode(begin(range), end(range), out);
}

template <typename Range, typename OutputIterator>
auto decode(Range&& range, OutputIterator out)
{
    using std::begin;
    using std::end;
    
    return decode(begin(range), end(range), out);
}

// Sample application and checking ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

#include <iostream>
#include <string_view>

int main()
{
    using namespace std::literals;
    
    constexpr auto test_string = "WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW"sv;
    
    std::cout << "Input:  \"" << test_string << "\"\n";
    std::cout << "Output: \"";
    // No need for a temporary string - can encode directly to cout.
    encode(test_string, std::ostreambuf_iterator<char>{std::cout});
    std::cout << "\"\n";
    
    auto encoded_str = std::string{};
    auto decoded_str = std::string{};
    encode(test_string, std::back_inserter(encoded_str));
    decode(encoded_str, std::back_inserter(decoded_str));
    
    std::cout.setf(std::cout.boolalpha);
    std::cout << "Round trip works: " << (test_string == decoded_str) << '\n';
}
Library: boost
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
#include <sstream>
#include <boost/regex.hpp>
#include <cstdlib>

std::string encode ( const std::string & ) ;
std::string decode ( const std::string & ) ;

int main( ) {
   std::string to_encode ( "WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW" ) ;
   std::cout << to_encode << " encoded:" << std::endl ;
   std::string encoded ( encode ( to_encode ) ) ;
   std::cout << encoded << std::endl ;
   std::string decoded ( decode( encoded ) ) ;
   std::cout << "Decoded again:\n" ;
   std::cout << decoded << std::endl ;
   if ( to_encode == decoded ) 
      std::cout << "It must have worked!\n" ;
   return 0 ;
}

std::string encode( const std::string & to_encode ) {
   std::string::size_type found = 0 , nextfound = 0 ;
   std::ostringstream oss ;
   nextfound = to_encode.find_first_not_of( to_encode[ found ] , found ) ;
   while ( nextfound != std::string::npos ) {
      oss << nextfound - found ;
      oss << to_encode[ found ] ;
      found = nextfound ;
      nextfound = to_encode.find_first_not_of( to_encode[ found ] , found ) ;
   }
   //since we must not discard the last characters we add them at the end of the string
   std::string rest ( to_encode.substr( found ) ) ;//last run of characters starts at position found 
   oss << rest.length( ) << to_encode[ found ] ;
   return oss.str( ) ;
}

std::string decode ( const std::string & to_decode ) {
   boost::regex e ( "(\\d+)(\\w)" ) ;
   boost::match_results<std::string::const_iterator> matches ;
   std::ostringstream oss ;
   std::string::const_iterator start = to_decode.begin( ) , end = to_decode.end( ) ;
   while ( boost::regex_search ( start , end , matches , e ) ) {
      std::string numberstring ( matches[ 1 ].first , matches[ 1 ].second ) ;
      int number = atoi( numberstring.c_str( ) ) ;
      std::string character ( matches[ 2 ].first , matches[ 2 ].second ) ;
      for ( int i = 0 ; i < number ; i++ ) 
	 oss << character ;
      start = matches[ 2 ].second ;
   }
   return oss.str( ) ;
}

Ceylon

shared void run() {
    
    "Takes a string such as aaaabbbbbbcc and returns 4a6b2c"
    String compress(String string) {
        if (exists firstChar = string.first) {
            if (exists index = string.firstIndexWhere((char) => char != firstChar)) {
                return "``index````firstChar````compress(string[index...])``";
            }
            else {
                return "``string.size````firstChar``";
            }
        }
        else {
            return "";
        }
    }
    
    "Takes a string such as 4a6b2c and returns aaaabbbbbbcc"
    String decompress(String string) =>
            let (runs = string.split(Character.letter, false).paired)
    		"".join { 
        		for ([length, char] in runs) 
        		if (is Integer int = Integer.parse(length)) 
        		char.repeat(int) 
        	};
    
    assert (compress("aaaabbbbbaa") == "4a5b2a");
    assert (decompress("4a6b2c") == "aaaabbbbbbcc");
    assert (compress("WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW") == "12W1B12W3B24W1B14W");
    assert (decompress("24a") == "aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa");
}

Clojure

(defn compress [s]
  (->> (partition-by identity s) (mapcat (juxt count first)) (apply str)))

(defn extract [s]
  (->> (re-seq #"(\d+)([A-Z])" s)
       (mapcat (fn [[_ n ch]] (repeat (Integer/parseInt n) ch)))
       (apply str)))

COBOL

Works with: GNU Cobol version 2.0
       >>SOURCE FREE
IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
PROGRAM-ID. run-length-encoding.

ENVIRONMENT DIVISION.
CONFIGURATION SECTION.
REPOSITORY.
    FUNCTION encode
    FUNCTION decode
    .
DATA DIVISION.
WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
01  input-str                           PIC A(100).
01  encoded                             PIC X(200).
01  decoded                             PIC X(200).

PROCEDURE DIVISION.
    ACCEPT input-str
    MOVE encode(FUNCTION TRIM(input-str)) TO encoded
    DISPLAY "Encoded: " FUNCTION TRIM(encoded)
    DISPLAY "Decoded: " FUNCTION TRIM(decode(encoded))
    .
END PROGRAM run-length-encoding.


IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
FUNCTION-ID. encode.

DATA DIVISION.
LOCAL-STORAGE SECTION.
01  str-len                             PIC 9(3) COMP.

01  i                                   PIC 9(3) COMP.

01  current-char                        PIC A.

01  num-chars                           PIC 9(3) COMP.
01  num-chars-disp                      PIC Z(3).

01  encoded-pos                         PIC 9(3) COMP VALUE 1.

LINKAGE SECTION.
01  str                                 PIC X ANY LENGTH.

01  encoded                             PIC X(200).

PROCEDURE DIVISION USING str RETURNING encoded.
    MOVE FUNCTION LENGTH(str) TO str-len
    MOVE str (1:1) TO current-char
    MOVE 1 TO num-chars
    PERFORM VARYING i FROM 2 BY 1 UNTIL i > str-len
        IF str (i:1) <> current-char
            CALL "add-num-chars" USING encoded, encoded-pos,
                CONTENT current-char, num-chars
                
            MOVE str (i:1) TO current-char
            MOVE 1 TO num-chars
        ELSE
            ADD 1 TO num-chars
        END-IF
    END-PERFORM

    CALL "add-num-chars" USING encoded, encoded-pos, CONTENT current-char,
        num-chars
    .
END FUNCTION encode.

IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
PROGRAM-ID. add-num-chars.

DATA DIVISION.
WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
01  num-chars-disp                      PIC Z(3).

LINKAGE SECTION.
01  str                                 PIC X(200).

01  current-pos                         PIC 9(3) COMP.

01  char-to-encode                      PIC X.

01  num-chars                           PIC 9(3) COMP.

PROCEDURE DIVISION USING str, current-pos, char-to-encode, num-chars.
    MOVE num-chars TO num-chars-disp
    MOVE FUNCTION TRIM(num-chars-disp) TO str (current-pos:3)
    ADD FUNCTION LENGTH(FUNCTION TRIM(num-chars-disp)) TO current-pos
    MOVE char-to-encode TO str (current-pos:1)
    ADD 1 TO current-pos
    .
END PROGRAM add-num-chars.


IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
FUNCTION-ID. decode.

DATA DIVISION.
LOCAL-STORAGE SECTION.
01  encoded-pos                         PIC 9(3) COMP VALUE 1.
01  decoded-pos                         PIC 9(3) COMP VALUE 1.

01  num-of-char                         PIC 9(3) COMP VALUE 0.

LINKAGE SECTION.
01  encoded                             PIC X(200).

01  decoded                             PIC X(100).

PROCEDURE DIVISION USING encoded RETURNING decoded.
    PERFORM VARYING encoded-pos FROM 1 BY 1
            UNTIL encoded (encoded-pos:2) = SPACES OR encoded-pos > 200
        IF encoded (encoded-pos:1) IS NUMERIC
            COMPUTE num-of-char = num-of-char * 10
                + FUNCTION NUMVAL(encoded (encoded-pos:1))
        ELSE
            PERFORM UNTIL num-of-char = 0
                MOVE encoded (encoded-pos:1) TO decoded (decoded-pos:1)
                ADD 1 TO decoded-pos
                SUBTRACT 1 FROM num-of-char
            END-PERFORM
        END-IF
    END-PERFORM
    .
END FUNCTION decode.
Output:
WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
Encoded: 12W1B12W3B24W1B14W
Decoded: WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

CoffeeScript

encode = (str) ->
    str.replace /(.)\1*/g, (w) ->
        w[0] + w.length
        
decode = (str) ->
    str.replace /(.)(\d+)/g, (m,w,n) ->
        new Array(+n+1).join(w)
        
console.log s = "WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW"
console.log encode s
console.log decode encode s
WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
W12B1W12B3W24B1W14
WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

The following version encodes the number of ocurrences as an unicode character. You can change the way it looks by rotating the offset.

encode = (str, offset = 75) ->
    str.replace /(.)\1*/g, (w) ->
        w[0] + String.fromCharCode(offset+w.length)
        
decode = (str, offset = 75) ->
    str.split('').map((w,i) ->
        if not (i%2) then w else new Array(+w.charCodeAt(0)-offset).join(str[i-1])
    ).join('')
> encode "WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW"
WWBLWWBNWcBLWY
> encode "WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW", 1200
WҼBұWҼBҳWӈBұWҾ
> encode "WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW", 5200
WᑜBᑑWᑜBᑓWᑨBᑑWᑞ

Common Lisp

(defun group-similar (sequence &key (test 'eql))
  (loop for x in (rest sequence)
        with temp = (subseq sequence 0 1)
        if (funcall test (first temp) x)
          do (push x temp)
        else
          collect temp
          and do (setf temp (list x))))

(defun run-length-encode (sequence)
  (mapcar (lambda (group) (list (first group) (length group)))
          (group-similar (coerce sequence 'list))))

(defun run-length-decode (sequence)
  (reduce (lambda (s1 s2) (concatenate 'simple-string s1 s2))
          (mapcar (lambda (elem)
                    (make-string (second elem)
                                 :initial-element
                                 (first elem)))
                  sequence)))

(run-length-encode "WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW")
(run-length-decode '((#\W 12) (#\B 1) (#\W 12) (#\B 3) (#\W 24) (#\B 1)))

D

Short Functional Version

import std.algorithm, std.array;

alias encode = group;

auto decode(Group!("a == b", string) enc) {
    return enc.map!(t => [t[0]].replicate(t[1])).join;
}

void main() {
    immutable s = "WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWW" ~
                  "WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW";
    assert(s.encode.decode.equal(s));
}

Basic Imperative Version

import std.stdio, std.array, std.conv;

// Similar to the 'look and say' function.
string encode(in string input) pure nothrow @safe {
    if (input.empty)
        return input;
    char last = input[$ - 1];
    string output;
    int count;

    foreach_reverse (immutable c; input) {
        if (c == last) {
            count++;
        } else {
            output = count.text ~ last ~ output;
            count = 1;
            last = c;
        }
    }

    return count.text ~ last ~ output;
}

string decode(in string input) pure /*@safe*/ {
    string i, result;

    foreach (immutable c; input)
        switch (c) {
            case '0': .. case '9':
                i ~= c;
                break;
            case 'A': .. case 'Z':
                if (i.empty)
                    throw new Exception("Can not repeat a letter " ~
                        "without a number of repetitions");
                result ~= [c].replicate(i.to!int);
                i.length = 0;
                break;
            default:
                throw new Exception("'" ~ c ~ "' is not alphanumeric");
        }

    return result;
}

void main() {
    immutable txt = "WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWW" ~
                    "WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW";
    writeln("Input: ", txt);
    immutable encoded = txt.encode;
    writeln("Encoded: ", encoded);
    assert(txt == encoded.decode);
}
Output:
Input: WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
Encoded: 12W1B12W3B24W1B14W

UTF String Version

D's native string is utf-encoded. This version works for utf string, and uses a Variable-length Quantity module.

import std.stdio, std.conv, std.utf, std.array;
import vlq;

struct RLE { // for utf string 
    ubyte[] encoded;

    RLE encode(const string s) {
        validate(s); // check if s is well-formed utf, throw if not 
        encoded.length = 0; // reset 
        if (s.length == 0) return this; // empty string
        string last;
        VLQ count;
        for (int i = 0; i < s.length; ) {
            auto k = s.stride(i);
            auto ucode = cast(string)s[i .. i + k];
            if (i == 0) last = ucode;
            if (ucode == last)
                count++;
            else {
                encoded ~= count.toVLQ ~ cast(ubyte[])last;
                last = ucode;
                count = 1;
            }
            i += k;
        }
        encoded ~= VLQ(count).toVLQ ~ cast(ubyte[])last;
        return this;
    }

    int opApply(int delegate(ref ulong c, ref string u) dg) {
        VLQ count;
        string ucode;

        for (int i = 0; i < encoded.length; ) {
            auto k = count.extract(encoded[i .. $]);
            i += k;
            if (i >= encoded.length)
                throw new Exception("not valid encoded string");
            k = stride(cast(string) encoded[i .. $], 0);
            if (k == 0xff) // not valid utf code point 
                throw new Exception("not valid encoded string");
            ucode = cast(string)encoded[i .. i + k].dup;
            dg(count.value, ucode);
            i += k;
        }

        return 0;
    }

    string toString() {
        string res;
        foreach (ref i, s ; this)
            if (indexOf("0123456789#", s) == -1)
                res ~= text(i) ~ s;
            else 
                res ~= text(i) ~ '#' ~ s;
        return res;
    }
 
    string decode() {
        string res;
        foreach (ref i, s; this)
            res ~= replicate(s, cast(uint)i);
        return res;
    }       
}

void main() {
    RLE r;
    auto s = "尋尋覓覓冷冷清清淒淒慘慘戚戚\nWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWW" ~
             "WBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW\n" ~
             "11#222##333";
    auto f = File("display.txt", "w");
    f.writeln(s);
    r.encode(s);
    f.writefln("-----\n%s\n-----\n%s", r, r.decode());
    auto sEncoded = RLE.init.encode(s).encoded ;
    assert(s == RLE(sEncoded).decode(), "Not work");
}

output from "display.txt":

尋尋覓覓冷冷清清淒淒慘慘戚戚
WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
11#222##333
-----
2尋2覓2冷2清2淒2慘2戚1
12W1B12W3B24W1B14W1
2#11##3#22##3#3
-----
尋尋覓覓冷冷清清淒淒慘慘戚戚
WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
11#222##333

NOTE: some characters in this section use Chinese font.

UTF String Version with Regular Expression

Translation of: Python

The code looks more complex than the third Python version because this also handles digits by escaping them with #.

import std.stdio, std.conv, std.array, std.regex, std.utf,
       std.algorithm;

string reEncode(string s) {
    validate(s); // Throw if it's not a well-formed UTF string
    static string rep(Captures!string m) {
        auto c = canFind("0123456789#", m[1]) ? "#" ~ m[1] : m[1];
        return text(m.hit.length / m[1].length) ~ c;
    }
    return std.regex.replace!rep(s, regex(`(.|[\n\r\f])\1*`, "g"));
}


string reDecode(string s) {
    validate(s); // Throw if it's not a well-formed UTF string
    static string rep(Captures!string m) {
        string c = m[2];
        if (c.length > 1 && c[0] == '#')
            c = c[1 .. $];
        return replicate(c, to!int(m[1]));
    }
    auto r=regex(`(\d+)(#[0123456789#]|[\n\r\f]|[^0123456789#\n\r\f]+)`
                 , "g");
    return std.regex.replace!rep(s, r);
}

void main() {
    auto s = "尋尋覓覓冷冷清清淒淒慘慘戚戚\nWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWW" ~
             "WBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW\n" ~
             "11#222##333";
    assert(s == reDecode(reEncode(s)));
}

Déjà Vu

rle:
	if not dup:
		drop
		return []

	swap ]

	local :source chars
	pop-from source
	1
	for c in source:
		if = c over:
			++
		else:
			1 c &
	&
	return [

rld:
	)
	for pair in swap:
		repeat &< pair:
			&> pair
	concat(


rle "WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW"
!. dup
!. rld
Output:
[ & 12 "W" & 1 "B" & 12 "W" & 3 "B" & 24 "W" & 1 "B" & 14 "W" ]
"WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW"

Delphi

program RunLengthTest;

{$APPTYPE CONSOLE}

uses
  System.SysUtils;

type
  TRLEPair = record
    count: Integer;
    letter: Char;
  end;

  TRLEncoded = TArray<TRLEPair>;

  TRLEncodedHelper = record helper for TRLEncoded
  public
    procedure Clear;
    function Add(c: Char): Integer;
    procedure Encode(Data: string);
    function Decode: string;
    function ToString: string;
  end;

{ TRLEncodedHelper }

function TRLEncodedHelper.Add(c: Char): Integer;
begin
  SetLength(self, length(self) + 1);
  Result := length(self) - 1;
  with self[Result] do
  begin
    count := 1;
    letter := c;
  end;
end;

procedure TRLEncodedHelper.Clear;
begin
  SetLength(self, 0);
end;

function TRLEncodedHelper.Decode: string;
var
  p: TRLEPair;
begin
  Result := '';
  for p in Self do
    Result := Result + string.Create(p.letter, p.count);
end;

procedure TRLEncodedHelper.Encode(Data: string);
var
  pivot: Char;
  i, index: Integer;
begin
  Clear;
  if Data.Length = 0 then
    exit;

  pivot := Data[1];
  index := Add(pivot);

  for i := 2 to Data.Length do
  begin
    if pivot = Data[i] then
      inc(self[index].count)
    else
    begin
      pivot := Data[i];
      index := Add(pivot);
    end;
  end;
end;

function TRLEncodedHelper.ToString: string;
var
  p: TRLEPair;
begin
  Result := '';
  for p in Self do
    Result := Result + p.count.ToString + p.letter;
end;

const
  Input = 'WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW';

var
  Data: TRLEncoded;

begin
  Data.Encode(Input);
  Writeln(Data.ToString);
  writeln(Data.Decode);
  Readln;
end.
Output:
12W1B12W3B24W1B14W
WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

E

def rle(string) {
  var seen := null
  var count := 0
  var result := []
  def put() {
    if (seen != null) {
      result with= [count, seen]
    }
  }
  for ch in string {
    if (ch != seen) {
      put()
      seen := ch
      count := 0
    }
    count += 1
  }
  put()
  return result
}

def unrle(coded) {
  var result := ""
  for [count, ch] in coded {
    result += E.toString(ch) * count
  }
  return result
}
? rle("WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW")
# value: [[12, 'W'], [1, 'B'], [12, 'W'], [3, 'B'], [24, 'W'], [1, 'B'], [14, 'W']]

? unrle(rle("WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW"))
# value: "WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW"

EasyLang

func$ rlenc in$ .
   for c$ in strchars in$
      if c$ = c0$
         cnt += 1
      else
         if cnt > 0
            out$ &= cnt & c0$ & " "
         .
         c0$ = c$
         cnt = 1
      .
   .
   out$ &= cnt & c0$
   return out$
.
func$ rldec in$ .
   for h$ in strsplit in$ " "
      c$ = substr h$ len h$ 1
      for i to number h$
         out$ &= c$
      .
   .
   return out$
.
s$ = input
print s$
s$ = rlenc s$
print s$
s$ = rldec s$
print s$
# 
input_data
WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

Elena

ELENA 6.x :

import system'text;
import system'routines;
import extensions;
import extensions'text;
 
singleton compressor
{
    string compress(string s)
    {
        auto  tb := new TextBuilder();
        int count := 0;
        char current := s[0];
        s.forEach::(ch)
        {
            if (ch == current)
            {
                count += 1
            }
            else
            {
                tb.writeFormatted("{0}{1}",count,current);
                count := 1;
                current := ch
            }
        };
 
        tb.writeFormatted("{0}{1}",count,current);
 
        ^ tb
    }
 
    string decompress(string s)
    {
        auto tb := new TextBuilder();
        char current := $0;
        var a := new StringWriter();
        s.forEach::(ch)
        {
            current := ch;
            if (current.isDigit())
            {
                a.append(ch)
            }
            else
            {
                int count := a.toInt();
                a.clear();
 
                tb.fill(current,count)
            }
        };
 
        ^ tb
    }
}
 
public program()
{
    var s := "WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW";
 
    s := compressor.compress(s);
    console.printLine(s);
 
    s := compressor.decompress(s);
    console.printLine(s)
}
Output:
12W1B12W3B24W1B14W
WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

Elixir

defmodule Run_length do
  def encode(str) when is_bitstring(str) do
    to_char_list(str) |> encode |> to_string
  end
  def encode(list) when is_list(list) do
    Enum.chunk_by(list, &(&1))
    |> Enum.flat_map(fn chars -> to_char_list(length(chars)) ++ [hd(chars)] end)
  end
  
  def decode(str) when is_bitstring(str) do
    Regex.scan(~r/(\d+)(.)/, str)
    |> Enum.map_join(fn [_,n,c] -> String.duplicate(c, String.to_integer(n)) end)
  end
  def decode(list) when is_list(list) do
    to_string(list) |> decode |> to_char_list
  end
end

text = [ string:    "WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW",
         char_list: 'WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW' ]

Enum.each(text, fn {type, txt} ->
  IO.puts type
  txt                  |> IO.inspect
  |> Run_length.encode |> IO.inspect
  |> Run_length.decode |> IO.inspect
end)
Output:
string
"WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW"
"12W1B12W3B24W1B14W"
"WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW"
char_list
'WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW'
'12W1B12W3B24W1B14W'
'WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW'

Emacs Lisp

(defun run-length-encode (str)
  (let (output)
    (with-temp-buffer
      (insert str)
      (goto-char (point-min))
      (while (not (eobp))
        (let* ((char (char-after (point)))
               (count (skip-chars-forward (string char))))
          (push (format "%d%c" count char) output))))
    (mapconcat #'identity (nreverse output) "")))
Library: seq.el
(require 'seq)

(defun run-length-encode (str)
  (let ((grouped (mapcar #'cdr (seq-group-by #'identity (string-to-list str)))))
    (apply #'concat (mapcar (lambda (items)
                              (format "%d%c" (length items) (car items)))
                            grouped))))

Erlang

A single-threaded/process version with a simple set of unit test.

-module(rle).

-export([encode/1,decode/1]).

-include_lib("eunit/include/eunit.hrl").

encode(S) ->
    doEncode(string:substr(S, 2), string:substr(S, 1, 1), 1, []).

doEncode([], CurrChar, Count, R) ->
    R ++ integer_to_list(Count) ++ CurrChar;
doEncode(S, CurrChar, Count, R) ->
    NextChar = string:substr(S, 1, 1),
    if
        NextChar == CurrChar ->
            doEncode(string:substr(S, 2), CurrChar, Count + 1, R);
        true ->
            doEncode(string:substr(S, 2), NextChar, 1,
                R ++ integer_to_list(Count) ++ CurrChar)
    end.

decode(S) ->
    doDecode(string:substr(S, 2), string:substr(S, 1, 1), []).

doDecode([], _, R) ->
    R;
doDecode(S, CurrString, R) ->
    NextChar = string:substr(S, 1, 1),
    IsInt = erlang:is_integer(catch(erlang:list_to_integer(NextChar))),
    if
        IsInt ->
            doDecode(string:substr(S, 2), CurrString ++ NextChar, R);
        true ->
            doDecode(string:substr(S, 2), [],
                R ++ string:copies(NextChar, list_to_integer(CurrString)))
    end.

rle_test_() ->
    PreEncoded =
        "WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW",
    Expected = "12W1B12W3B24W1B14W",
    [
        ?_assert(encode(PreEncoded) =:= Expected),
        ?_assert(decode(Expected) =:= PreEncoded),
        ?_assert(decode(encode(PreEncoded)) =:= PreEncoded)
    ].

A version that works on character lists:

-module(rle).

-export([encode/1, decode/1]).

encode(L) -> encode(L, []).
encode([], Acc) -> {rle, lists:reverse(Acc)};
encode([H|T], []) ->
    encode(T, [{1, H}]);
encode([H|T], [{Count, Char}|AT]) ->
    if
        H =:= Char ->
            encode(T, [{Count + 1, Char}|AT]);
        true -> 
            encode(T, [{1, H}|[{Count, Char}|AT]])
    end.        

decode({rle, L}) -> lists:append(lists:reverse(decode(L, []))).
decode([], Acc) -> Acc; 
decode([{Count, Char}|T], Acc) ->
    decode(T, [[Char || _ <- lists:seq(1, Count)]|Acc]).

Euphoria

include misc.e

function encode(sequence s)
    sequence out
    integer prev_char,count
    if length(s) = 0 then
        return {}
    end if
    out = {}
    prev_char = s[1]
    count = 1
    for i = 2 to length(s) do
        if s[i] != prev_char then
            out &= {count,prev_char}
            prev_char = s[i]
            count = 1
        else
            count += 1
        end if
    end for
    out &= {count,prev_char}
    return out
end function

function decode(sequence s)
    sequence out
    out = {}
    for i = 1 to length(s) by 2 do
        out &= repeat(s[i+1],s[i])
    end for
    return out
end function

sequence s
s = encode("WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW")
pretty_print(1,s,{3})
puts(1,'\n')
puts(1,decode(s))

Output:

{12,'W',1,'B',12,'W',3,'B',24,'W',1,'B',14,'W'}
WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

F#

open System
open System.Text.RegularExpressions

let encode data =
    // encodeData : seq<'T> -> seq<int * 'T> i.e. Takes a sequence of 'T types and return a sequence of tuples containing the run length and an instance of 'T.
    let rec encodeData input =
        seq { if not (Seq.isEmpty input) then
                 let head = Seq.head input              
                 let runLength = Seq.length (Seq.takeWhile ((=) head) input)
                 yield runLength, head
                 yield! encodeData (Seq.skip runLength input) }
 
    encodeData data |> Seq.fold(fun acc (len, d) -> acc + len.ToString() + d.ToString()) ""

let decode str =
    [ for m in Regex.Matches(str, "(\d+)(.)") -> m ]
    |> List.map (fun m -> Int32.Parse(m.Groups.[1].Value), m.Groups.[2].Value)
    |> List.fold (fun acc (len, s) -> acc + String.replicate len s) ""

Factor

USING: io kernel literals math.parser math.ranges sequences
sequences.extras sequences.repeating splitting.extras
splitting.monotonic strings ;
IN: rosetta-code.run-length-encoding

CONSTANT: alpha $[ CHAR: A CHAR: Z [a,b] >string ]

: encode ( str -- str )
    [ = ] monotonic-split [ [ length number>string ] [ first ]
    bi suffix ] map concat ;
    
: decode ( str -- str )
    alpha split* [ odd-indices ] [ even-indices
    [ string>number ] map ] bi [ repeat ] 2map concat ;
    
"WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW"
"12W1B12W3B24W1B14W"
[ encode ] [ decode ] bi* [ print ] bi@
Output:
12W1B12W3B24W1B14W
WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

FALSE

1^[^$~][$@$@=$[%%\1+\$0~]?~[@.,1\$]?%]#%\.,  {encode}
[0[^$$'9>'0@>|~]['0-\10*+]#]n:
[n;!$~][[\$][1-\$,]#%%]#%%                   {decode}

Fan

**
** Generates a run-length encoding for a string
**
class RLE
{
  Run[] encode(Str s)
  {
    runs := Run[,]

    s.size.times |i|
    {
      ch := s[i]
      if (runs.size==0 || runs.last.char != ch)
        runs.add(Run(ch))
      runs.last.inc
    }
    return runs
  }

  Str decode(Run[] runs)
  {
    buf := StrBuf()
    runs.each |run|
    {
      run.count.times { buf.add(run.char.toChar) }
    }
    return buf.toStr
  }

  Void main()
  {
    echo(decode(encode(
"WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW"
        )))
  }

}

internal class Run
{
  Int char
  Int count := 0
  new make(Int ch) { char = ch }
  Void inc() { ++count }

  override Str toStr() { return "${count}${char.toChar}" }
}

Forth

variable a
: n>a  (.) tuck a @ swap move a +! ;
: >a   a @ c! 1 a +! ;
: encode ( c-addr +n a -- a n' )
  dup a ! -rot over c@ 1 2swap 1 /string bounds ?do
    over i c@ = if 1+
    else n>a >a i c@ 1 then
  loop n>a >a  a @ over - ;

: digit?  [char] 0 [ char 9 1+ literal ] within ;
: decode ( c-addr +n a -- a n' )
  dup a ! 0 2swap bounds ?do
    i c@ digit? if 10 * i c@ [char] 0 - + else
    a @ over i c@ fill a +! 0 then
  loop drop a @ over - ;

Example:

s" WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW"
here 1000 + encode here 2000 + decode cr 3 spaces type
   WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

Fortran

Works with: Fortran version 95 and later
program RLE
  implicit none

  integer, parameter :: bufsize = 100   ! Sets maximum size of coded and decoded strings, adjust as necessary
  character(bufsize) :: teststr = "WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW"
  character(bufsize) :: codedstr = "", decodedstr = ""
    
  call Encode(teststr, codedstr)
  write(*,"(a)") trim(codedstr)
  call Decode(codedstr, decodedstr)
  write(*,"(a)") trim(decodedstr)

contains

subroutine Encode(instr, outstr)
  character(*), intent(in)  :: instr
  character(*), intent(out) :: outstr
  character(8) :: tempstr = ""
  character(26) :: validchars = "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ"
  integer :: a, b, c, i

  if(verify(trim(instr), validchars) /= 0) then
    outstr = "Invalid input"
    return
  end if
  outstr = ""
  c = 1
  a = iachar(instr(1:1))
  do i = 2, len(trim(instr))
    b = iachar(instr(i:i))
    if(a == b) then
      c = c + 1
    else
      write(tempstr, "(i0)") c
      outstr = trim(outstr) // trim(tempstr) // achar(a)
      a = b
      c = 1
    end if
  end do
  write(tempstr, "(i0)") c
  outstr = trim(outstr) // trim(tempstr) // achar(b)
end subroutine

subroutine Decode(instr, outstr)
  character(*), intent(in)  :: instr
  character(*), intent(out) :: outstr
  character(26) :: validchars = "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ"
  integer :: startn, endn, n

  outstr = ""
  startn = 1
  do while(startn < len(trim(instr)))
    endn = scan(instr(startn:), validchars) + startn - 1
    read(instr(startn:endn-1), "(i8)") n
    outstr = trim(outstr) // repeat(instr(endn:endn), n)
    startn = endn + 1
  end do
end subroutine
end program

Output:

12W1B12W3B24W1B14W
WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

FreeBASIC

Dim As String initial, encoded, decoded

Function RLDecode(i As String) As String
    Dim As Long Loop0
    dim as string rCount, outP, m
    
    For Loop0 = 1 To Len(i)
        m = Mid(i, Loop0, 1)
        Select Case m
        Case "0" To "9"
            rCount += m
        Case Else
            If Len(rCount) Then
                outP += String(Val(rCount), m)
                rCount = ""
            Else
                outP += m
            End If
        End Select
    Next
    RLDecode = outP
End Function

Function RLEncode(i As String) As String
    Dim As String tmp1, tmp2, outP
    Dim As Long Loop0, rCount
    
    tmp1 = Mid(i, 1, 1)
    tmp2 = tmp1
    rCount = 1
    
    For Loop0 = 2 To Len(i)
        tmp1 = Mid(i, Loop0, 1)
        If tmp1 <> tmp2 Then
            outP += Ltrim(Rtrim(Str(rCount))) + tmp2
            tmp2 = tmp1
            rCount = 1
        Else
            rCount += 1
        End If
    Next
    
    outP += Ltrim(Rtrim(Str(rCount)))
    outP += tmp2
    RLEncode = outP
End Function

Input "Type something: ", initial
encoded = RLEncode(initial)
decoded = RLDecode(encoded)
Print initial
Print encoded
Print decoded
End
Output:

La salida es similar a la de BASIC, mostrada arriba.

FutureBasic

This gives RLE encoding for strings and RLE decoding for strings and arrays, e.g., for Conway's Game of Life

local fn encode( string as CFStringRef) as CFStringRef
  CFStringRef ch, s, t
  Short i, rl
  s = @""                                                             // Initalize the output string
  for i = 0 to len( string ) - 1                                      // Encode string char by char
    ch = mid( string, i, 1)                                           // Read character at index
    rl = 1                                                            // Start run-length counter
    while fn StringIsEqual( mid( string, i + rl, 1), ch )
      rl ++                                                            // Same char, so increase counter
    wend
    if rl == 1 then t = @"" else t = fn StringWithFormat( @"%d", rl )  // Counter as string, don't encode 1's
    t = fn StringByAppendingString( t, ch )                            // Add character
    s = fn StringByAppendingString( s, t )                             // Add to already encoded string
    i += rl - 1                                                        // Move index
  next
  print s
end fn


local fn decode( string as CFStringRef )
  CFStringRef ch, s, t                                            // character, outputstring, temporary string
  Short i, rl                                                     // index, run length
  s = @""                                                         // Initalize the output string
  for i = 0 to len( string ) - 1                                  // Decode input string char by char
    ch = mid( string, i, 1 )                                      // Read character at index
    if intval( ch ) == 0                                           // Not a digit
      rl = 1
    else
      rl = intval( mid( string, i ) )                              // Read run-length
      i += fix( log10( rl ) + 1 )                                  // Move index past digits
      ch = mid( string, i, 1 )                                     // Read character after run length
    end if
    t = fn StringByPaddingToLength( ch, rl, ch, 0 )                 // Assemble temp string
    s = fn StringByAppendingString( s, t )                          // Add to decoded string
  next
  print s
end fn


local fn decode2D( string as CFStringRef )                   // For Conway's Game of Life objects
  Boolean a(500, 500)                                         // Or larger to hold bigger life forms
  CFStringRef ch
  Short i, j, rl, f                                           // Decoded char
  Short v = 0, w = 0, x = 0, y = 0                            // Temp width, max width, array coordinates
  for i = 0 to len( string ) - 2                              // Final char is always !
    ch = mid( string, i, 1 )
    if intval( ch ) == 0
      rl = 1
    else
      rl = intval( mid( string, i ) )
      i += fix( log10( rl ) + 1 )
      ch = mid( string, i, 1 )
    end if
    select ch                                              // Decode character as:
      case @"$" : f = -1                                   // - new line
      case @"b" : f = 0                                    // - dead
      case @"o" : f = 1                                    // - live
      case else :                                          // Ignore
    end select
    for j = 1 to rl                                            // Fill array with run of chars
      if f = -1
        x = 0 : y ++ : v = 0 // New line
      else
        a(x, y) = f 
        x ++ : v ++ : if v > w then w = v
      end if
    next 
  next 
  for j = 0 to y : for i = 0 to w - 1
    print a(i, j);
  next : print : next
end fn

fn decode( @"12W1B12W3B24W1B14W" ) // Assignment
fn encode( @"WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW" )
fn decode2D( @"bo$2bo$3o!" ) // Glider

handleevents // Join Mac event loop

Output:


WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
12WB12W3B24WB14W
011
001
111

Gambas

Click this link to run this code

Public Sub Main() 
Dim sString As String = "WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW"
Dim siCount As Short = 1
Dim siStart As Short = 1
Dim sHold As New String[]
Dim sTemp As String

sString &= " "

Repeat
  sTemp = Mid(sString, siCount, 1)
  Do
    Inc siCount
    If Mid(sString, siCount, 1) <> sTemp Then Break
    If siCount = Len(sString) Then Break
  Loop
  sHold.add(Str(siCount - siStart) & sTemp)
  siStart = siCount
Until siCount = Len(sString)

Print sString & gb.NewLine & sHold.Join(", ")

End

Output:

WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW 
12W, 1B, 12W, 3B, 24W, 1B, 14W

Go

Decoder kind of necessary to demonstrate task requirement that I can recreate the input.

package main

import "fmt"

// encoding scheme:
// encode to byte array
// byte value < 26 means single character: byte value + 'A'
// byte value 26..255 means (byte value - 24) copies of next byte
func rllEncode(s string) (r []byte) {
    if s == "" {
        return
    }
    c := s[0]
    if c < 'A' || c > 'Z' {
        panic("invalid")
    }
    nc := byte(1)
    for i := 1; i < len(s); i++ {
        d := s[i]
        switch {
        case d != c:
        case nc < (255 - 24):
            nc++
            continue
        }
        if nc > 1 {
            r = append(r, nc+24)
        }
        r = append(r, c-'A')
        if d < 'A' || d > 'Z' {
            panic("invalid")
        }
        c = d
        nc = 1
    }
    if nc > 1 {
        r = append(r, nc+24)
    }
    r = append(r, c-'A')
    return
}

func main() {
    s := "WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW"
    fmt.Println("source: ", len(s), "bytes:", s)
    e := rllEncode(s)
    fmt.Println("encoded:", len(e), "bytes:", e)
    d := rllDecode(e)
    fmt.Println("decoded:", len(d), "bytes:", d)
    fmt.Println("decoded = source:", d == s)
}

func rllDecode(e []byte) string {
    var c byte
    var d []byte
    for i := 0; i < len(e); i++ {
        b := e[i]
        if b < 26 {
            c = 1
        } else {
            c = b - 24
            i++
            b = e[i]
        }
        for c > 0 {
            d = append(d, b+'A')
            c--
        }
    }
    return string(d)
}

Output:

source:  67 bytes: WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
encoded: 12 bytes: [36 22 1 36 22 27 1 48 22 1 38 22]
decoded: 67 bytes: WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
decoded = source: true

Groovy

def rleEncode(text) {
    def encoded = new StringBuilder()
    (text =~ /(([A-Z])\2*)/).each { matcher ->
        encoded.append(matcher[1].size()).append(matcher[2])
    }
    encoded.toString()
}

def rleDecode(text) {
    def decoded = new StringBuilder()
    (text =~ /([0-9]+)([A-Z])/).each { matcher ->
        decoded.append(matcher[2] * Integer.parseInt(matcher[1]))
    }
    decoded.toString()
}

Test code

def text = 'WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW'
def rleEncoded = rleEncode(text)
assert rleEncoded == '12W1B12W3B24W1B14W'
assert text == rleDecode(rleEncoded)

println "Original Text: $text"
println "Encoded Text: $rleEncoded"

Output:

Original Text: WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
Encoded Text: 12W1B12W3B24W1B14W

Haskell

In terms of group

import Data.List (group)

-- Datatypes
type Encoded = [(Int, Char)] -- An encoded String with form [(times, char), ...]

type Decoded = String

-- Takes a decoded string and returns an encoded list of tuples
rlencode :: Decoded -> Encoded
rlencode = fmap ((,) <$> length <*> head) . group

-- Takes an encoded list of tuples and returns the associated decoded String
rldecode :: Encoded -> Decoded
rldecode = concatMap (uncurry replicate)

main :: IO ()
main = do
  let input = "WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW"
      -- Output encoded and decoded versions of input
      encoded = rlencode input
      decoded = rldecode encoded
  putStrLn $ "Encoded: " <> show encoded <> "\nDecoded: " <> show decoded
Output:
Encoded: [(12,'W'),(1,'B'),(12,'W'),(3,'B'),(24,'W'),(1,'B'),(14,'W')]
Decoded: "WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW"

Or:

import Data.Char (isDigit)
import Data.List (group, groupBy)

runLengthEncode :: String -> String
runLengthEncode =
  concatMap
    ( \xs@(x : _) ->
        ( show . length $ xs
        )
          <> [x]
    )
    . group

runLengthDecode :: String -> String
runLengthDecode =
  concat . uncurry (zipWith (\[x] ns -> replicate (read ns) x))
    . foldr (\z (x, y) -> (y, z : x)) ([], [])
    . groupBy (\x y -> all isDigit [x, y])

main :: IO ()
main = do
  let text = "WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW"
      encode = runLengthEncode text
      decode = runLengthDecode encode
  mapM_ putStrLn [text, encode, decode]
  putStrLn $ "test: text == decode => " <> show (text == decode)
Output:
WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
12W1B12W3B24W1B14W
WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
test: text == decode => True

In terms of span

import Data.Char (isDigit)
import Data.List (span)

encode :: String -> String
encode [] = []
encode (x : xs) =
  let (run, rest) = span (x ==) xs
   in x : (show . succ . length) run <> encode rest

decode :: String -> String
decode [] = []
decode (x : xs) =
  let (ds, rest) = span isDigit xs
      n = read ds :: Int
   in replicate n x <> decode rest

main :: IO ()
main =
  putStrLn encoded
    >> putStrLn decoded
    >> print (src == decoded)
  where
    src = "WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW"
    encoded = encode src
    decoded = decode encoded
Output:
W12B1W12B3W24B1W14
WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
True

As a fold

----------------------- RUN LENGTHS ----------------------

runLengths :: String -> [(Int, Char)]
runLengths "" = []
runLengths s = uncurry (:) (foldr go ((0, ' '), []) s)
  where
    go c ((0, _), xs) = ((1, c), xs)
    go c ((n, x), xs)
      | c == x = ((succ n, x), xs)
      | otherwise = ((1, c), (n, x) : xs)

--------------------------- TEST -------------------------
main :: IO ()
main = do
  let testString =
        "WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWW"
          <> "WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW"
      encoded = runLengths testString
  putStrLn $ showLengths encoded
  print $
    concatMap (uncurry replicate) encoded == testString

------------------------- DISPLAY ------------------------
showLengths :: [(Int, Char)] -> String
showLengths [] = []
showLengths ((n, c) : xs) = show n <> [c] <> showLengths xs
Output:
12W1B12W3B24W1B14W
True

Icon and Unicon

procedure main(arglist)

   s := "WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW"

   write(" s=",image(s))
   write("s1=",image(s1 := rle_encode(s)))
   write("s2=",image(s2 := rle_decode(s1)))

   if s ~== s2 then write("Encode/Decode problem.")
               else write("Encode/Decode worked.")
end

procedure rle_encode(s)
   es := ""
   s ? while c := move(1) do es ||:= *(move(-1),tab(many(c))) || c
   return es
end

procedure rle_decode(es)
   s := ""
   es ? while s ||:= Repl(tab(many(&digits)),move(1))
   return s
end

procedure Repl(n, c)
    return repl(c,n)
end

Sample output:

 s="WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW"
s1="12W1B12W3B24W1B14W"
s2="WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW"
Encode/Decode worked.

J

Solution:

rle=: ;@(<@(":@(#-.1:),{.);.1~ 1, 2 ~:/\ ])
rld=: ;@(-.@e.&'0123456789' <@({:#~1{.@,~".@}:);.2 ])

Example:

   rle 'WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW'
12W1B12W3B24W1B14W

   rld '12W1B12W3B24W1B14W'
WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

Note that this implementation fails for the empty case. Here's a version that fixes that:

rle=: ;@(<@(":@#,{.);.1~ 2 ~:/\ (a.{.@-.{.),])

Other approaches include using rle ::(''"_) or rle^:(*@#) or equivalent variations on the original sentence.

Alternative Implementation

A numeric approach, based on a discussion in the J forums (primarily Pascal Jasmin and Marshall Lochbaum):

   torle=: (#, {.);.1~ 1,2 ~:/\ ]
   frle=: #/@|:

Task example:

   torle a.i.'WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW'
12 87
 1 66
12 87
 3 66
24 87
 1 66
14 87
   u: frle torle a.i.'WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW'
WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

Note that this approach also fails on the empty case.

Java

This can be achieved using regular expression capturing

import java.util.regex.Matcher;
import java.util.regex.Pattern;
String encode(String string) {
    Pattern pattern = Pattern.compile("(.)\\1*");
    Matcher matcher = pattern.matcher(string);
    StringBuilder encoded = new StringBuilder();
    while (matcher.find()) {
        encoded.append(matcher.group().length());
        encoded.append(matcher.group().charAt(0));
    }
    return encoded.toString();
}
String decode(String string) {
    Pattern pattern = Pattern.compile("(\\d+)(.)");
    Matcher matcher = pattern.matcher(string);
    StringBuilder decoded = new StringBuilder();
    int count;
    while (matcher.find()) {
        count = Integer.parseInt(matcher.group(1));
        decoded.append(matcher.group(2).repeat(count));
    }
    return decoded.toString();
}
string = WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
encoded = 12W1B12W3B24W1B14W
decoded = WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
string.equals(decoded) = true

string = https://www.rosettacode.org/
encoded = 1h2t1p1s1:2/3w1.1r1o1s1e2t1a1c1o1d1e1.1o1r1g1/
decoded = https://www.rosettacode.org/
string.equals(decoded) = true


An alternate demonstration

import java.util.regex.Matcher;
import java.util.regex.Pattern;
public class RunLengthEncoding {

    public static String encode(String source) {
        StringBuffer dest = new StringBuffer();
        for (int i = 0; i < source.length(); i++) {
            int runLength = 1;
            while (i+1 < source.length() && source.charAt(i) == source.charAt(i+1)) {
                runLength++;
                i++;
            }
            dest.append(runLength);
            dest.append(source.charAt(i));
        }
        return dest.toString();
    }

    public static String decode(String source) {
        StringBuffer dest = new StringBuffer();
        Pattern pattern = Pattern.compile("[0-9]+|[a-zA-Z]");
        Matcher matcher = pattern.matcher(source);
        while (matcher.find()) {
            int number = Integer.parseInt(matcher.group());
            matcher.find();
            while (number-- != 0) {
                dest.append(matcher.group());
            }
        }
        return dest.toString();
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        String example = "WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW";
        System.out.println(encode(example));
        System.out.println(decode("1W1B1W1B1W1B1W1B1W1B1W1B1W1B"));
    }
}

Tests:

Library: JUnit
import static org.junit.Assert.assertEquals;

import org.junit.Test;

public class RunLengthEncodingTest {
	private RLE = new RunLengthEncoding();

	@Test
	public void encodingTest() {
		assertEquals("1W", RLE.encode("W"));
		assertEquals("4W", RLE.encode("WWWW"));
		assertEquals("5w4i7k3i6p5e4d2i1a",
				RLE.encode("wwwwwiiiikkkkkkkiiippppppeeeeeddddiia"));
		assertEquals("12B1N12B3N24B1N14B",
				RLE.encode("BBBBBBBBBBBBNBBBBBBBBBBBBNNNBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBNBBBBBBBBBBBBBB"));
		assertEquals("12W1B12W3B24W1B14W",
				RLE.encode("WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW"));
		assertEquals("1W1B1W1B1W1B1W1B1W1B1W1B1W1B", RLE.encode("WBWBWBWBWBWBWB"));

	}

	@Test
	public void decodingTest() {
		assertEquals("W", RLE.decode("1W"));
		assertEquals("WWWW", RLE.decode("4W"));
		assertEquals("WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW",
				RLE.decode("12W1B12W3B24W1B14W"));
		assertEquals("WBWBWBWBWBWBWB", RLE.decode("1W1B1W1B1W1B1W1B1W1B1W1B1W1B"));
		assertEquals("WBWBWBWBWBWBWB", RLE.decode("1W1B1W1B1W1B1W1B1W1B1W1B1W1B"));

	}
}

JavaScript

ES5

Here's an encoding method that walks the input string character by character

function encode(input) {
    var encoding = [];
    var prev, count, i;
    for (count = 1, prev = input[0], i = 1; i < input.length; i++) {
        if (input[i] != prev) {
            encoding.push([count, prev]);
            count = 1;
            prev = input[i];
        }
        else 
            count ++;
    }
    encoding.push([count, prev]);
    return encoding;
}
Here's an encoding method that uses a regular expression to grab the character runs (
Works with: JavaScript version 1.6
for the forEach method)
function encode_re(input) {
    var encoding = [];
    input.match(/(.)\1*/g).forEach(function(substr){ encoding.push([substr.length, substr[0]]) });
    return encoding;
}

And to decode (see Repeating a string)

function decode(encoded) {
    var output = "";
    encoded.forEach(function(pair){ output += new Array(1+pair[0]).join(pair[1]) })
    return output;
}

ES6

By defining a generic group function:

(() => {
    'use strict';

    // runLengthEncode :: String -> [(Int, Char)]
    const runLengthEncoded = s =>
        group(s.split('')).map(
            cs => [cs.length, cs[0]]
        );

    // runLengthDecoded :: [(Int, Char)] -> String
    const runLengthDecoded = pairs =>
        pairs.map(([n, c]) => c.repeat(n)).join('');


    // ------------------------TEST------------------------
    const main = () => {
        const
            xs = 'WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWW' +
            'WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW',
            ys = runLengthEncoded(xs);

        console.log('From: ', show(xs));
        [ys, runLengthDecoded(ys)].forEach(
            x => console.log('  ->  ', show(x))
        )
    };

    // ----------------------GENERIC-----------------------

    // group :: [a] -> [[a]]
    const group = xs => {
        // A list of lists, each containing only equal elements,
        // such that the concatenation of these lists is xs.
        const go = xs =>
            0 < xs.length ? (() => {
                const
                    h = xs[0],
                    i = xs.findIndex(x => h !== x);
                return i !== -1 ? (
                    [xs.slice(0, i)].concat(go(xs.slice(i)))
                ) : [xs];
            })() : [];
        return go(xs);
    };

    // show :: a -> String
    const show = JSON.stringify;

    // MAIN ---
    return main();
})();
Output:
From:  "WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW"
  ->   [[12,"W"],[1,"B"],[12,"W"],[3,"B"],[24,"W"],[1,"B"],[14,"W"]]
  ->   "WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW"

A .reduce() based one-liner

 
const rlEncode = (s: string) => s.match(/(.)\1*/g).reduce((result,char) => result+char.length+char[0],"")
const rlValidate = (s: string) => /^(\d+\D)+$/.test(s)
const rlDecode = (s: string) => rlValidate(s) ? s.match(/(\d[a-z\s])\1*/ig).reduce((res,p) => res+p[p.length-1].repeat(parseInt(p)),"") : Error("Invalid rl")

jq

Note: "run_length_decode" as defined below requires a version of jq with regex support.

Utility function:

def runs:
  reduce .[] as $item
    ( [];
      if . == [] then [ [ $item, 1] ] 
      else .[length-1] as $last
      | if $last[0] == $item then .[length-1] = [$item, $last[1] + 1]
        else . + [[$item, 1]]
        end
      end ) ;

Run-length encoding and decoding:

def run_length_encode:
  explode | runs | reduce .[] as $x (""; . + "\($x[1])\([$x[0]]|implode)");

def run_length_decode:
  reduce (scan( "[0-9]+[A-Z]" )) as $pair
    ( "";
      ($pair[0:-1] | tonumber) as $n
      | $pair[-1:] as $letter
      | . + ($n * $letter)) ;

Example:

"ABBCCC" | run_length_encode | run_length_decode
Output:
$ jq -n -f Run_length_encoding.jq
"ABBCCC"

Julia

Works with: Julia version 0.6
using IterTools

encode(str::String) = collect((length(g), first(g)) for g in groupby(first, str))
decode(cod::Vector) = join(repeat("$l", n) for (n, l) in cod)

for original in ["aaaaahhhhhhmmmmmmmuiiiiiiiaaaaaa", "WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW"]
    encoded = encode(original)
    decoded = decode(encoded)
    println("Original: $original\n -> encoded: $encoded\n -> decoded: $decoded")
end
Output:
Original: aaaaahhhhhhmmmmmmmuiiiiiiiaaaaaa
 -> encoded: Tuple{Int64,Char}[(5, 'a'), (6, 'h'), (7, 'm'), (1, 'u'), (7, 'i'), (6, 'a')]
 -> decoded: aaaaahhhhhhmmmmmmmuiiiiiiiaaaaaa
Original: WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
 -> encoded: Tuple{Int64,Char}[(12, 'W'), (1, 'B'), (12, 'W'), (3, 'B'), (24, 'W'), (1, 'B'), (14, 'W')]
 -> decoded: WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

K

rle: {,/($-':i,#x),'x@i:&1,~=':x}
Translation of: J
rld: {d:"0123456789"; ,/(.(d," ")@d?/:x)#'x _dvl d}

Example:

  rle "WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW"
"12W1B12W3B24W1B14W"
  rld "12W1B12W3B24W1B14W"
"WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW"

Kotlin

Tail recursive implementation of Run Length Encoding

tailrec fun runLengthEncoding(text:String,prev:String=""):String {
    if (text.isEmpty()){
        return prev
    }
    val initialChar = text.get(0)
    val count = text.takeWhile{ it==initialChar }.count()
    return runLengthEncoding(text.substring(count),prev + "$count$initialChar" )
}

fun main(args: Array<String>) {
    assert(runLengthEncoding("TTESSST") == "2T1E3S1T")
    assert(runLengthEncoding("WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW")
                   == "12W1B12W3B24W1B14W")
}

Lasso

define rle(str::string)::string => {
	local(orig = #str->values->asCopy,newi=array, newc=array, compiled=string)
	while(#orig->size) => {
		if(not #newi->size) => {
			#newi->insert(1)
			#newc->insert(#orig->first)
			#orig->remove(1)
		else
			if(#orig->first == #newc->last) => {
				#newi->get(#newi->size) += 1
			else
				#newi->insert(1)
				#newc->insert(#orig->first)
			}
			#orig->remove(1)
		} 
	}
	loop(#newi->size) => {
		#compiled->append(#newi->get(loop_count)+#newc->get(loop_count))
	}
	return #compiled
}
define rlde(str::string)::string => {
	local(o = string)
	while(#str->size) => {
		loop(#str->size) => {
			if(#str->isualphabetic(loop_count)) => {
				if(loop_count == 1) => {
					#o->append(#str->get(loop_count))
					#str->removeLeading(#str->get(loop_count))
					loop_abort
				}
				local(num = integer(#str->substring(1,loop_count)))
				#o->append(#str->get(loop_count)*#num)
				#str->removeLeading(#num+#str->get(loop_count))
				loop_abort
			}
		}
	}
	return #o
}
//Tests:
rle('WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW')
rle('dsfkjhhkdsjfhdskhshdjjfhhdlsllw')

rlde('12W1B12W3B24W1B14W')
rlde('1d1s1f1k1j2h1k1d1s1j1f1h1d1s1k1h1s1h1d2j1f2h1d1l1s2l1w')
Output:
12W1B12W3B24W1B14W
1d1s1f1k1j2h1k1d1s1j1f1h1d1s1k1h1s1h1d2j1f2h1d1l1s2l1w


WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
dsfkjhhkdsjfhdskhshdjjfhhdlsllw

Liberty BASIC

mainwin 100 20

    'In$ ="aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaccbbbbbbbbbbbbbbba" ' testing...
    In$ ="WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW"
    '   Out$= "12W1B12W3B24W1B14W"

    Out$ =Encoded$( In$)
    Inv$ =Decoded$( Out$)

    print " Supplied string ="; In$
    Print " RLE version     ="; Out$
    print " Decoded back to ="; Inv$

    end

    function Encoded$( k$)
        r$    =""
        r     =1
        for i =2 to len( k$)
            prev$   =mid$( k$, i -1, 1)
            c$      =mid$( k$, i,    1)
            if c$ =prev$ then   '   entering a run of this character
                r =r +1
            else                '   it occurred only once
                r$ =r$ +str$( r) +prev$
                r =1
            end if
        next i
        r$ =r$ +str$( r) +c$
        Encoded$ =r$
    end function

    function Decoded$( k$)
        r$ =""
        v  =0
        for i =1 to len( k$)
            i$ =mid$( k$, i, 1)
            if instr( "0123456789", i$) then
                v =v *10 +val( i$)
            else
                for m =1 to v
                    r$ =r$ +i$
                next m
                v =0
            end if
        next i
        Decoded$ =r$
    end function

LiveCode

function rlEncode str
    local charCount
    put 1 into charCount
    repeat with i = 1 to the length of str
        if char i of str = char (i + 1) of str then
            add 1 to charCount
        else
            put char i of str & charCount after rle
            put 1 into charCount
        end if
    end repeat
    return rle
end rlEncode

function rlDecode str
    repeat with i = 1 to the length of str
        if char i of str is not a number then
            put char i of str into curChar
            put 0 into curNum
        else
            repeat with n = i to len(str)
                if isnumber(char n of str) then
                    put char n of str after curNum
                else
                    put repeatString(curChar,curNum) after rldec
                    put n - 1 into i
                    exit repeat
                end if
            end repeat
        end if
        if i = len(str) then --dump last char
            put repeatString(curChar,curNum) after rldec
        end if
    end repeat
    return rldec
end rlDecode

function repeatString str,rep
    repeat rep times
        put str after repStr
    end repeat
    return repStr
end repeatString

to encode :str [:out "||] [:count 0] [:last first :str]
  if empty? :str [output (word :out :count :last)]
  if equal? first :str :last [output (encode bf :str :out :count+1 :last)]
  output (encode bf :str (word :out :count :last) 1 first :str)
end

to reps :n :w
  output ifelse :n = 0 ["||] [word :w reps :n-1 :w]
end
to decode :str [:out "||] [:count 0]
  if empty? :str [output :out]
  if number? first :str [output (decode bf :str :out 10*:count + first :str)]
  output (decode bf :str word :out reps :count first :str)
end

make "foo "WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
make "rle encode :foo
show equal? :foo decode :rle

Lua

local C, Ct, R, Cf, Cc = lpeg.C, lpeg.Ct, lpeg.R, lpeg.Cf, lpeg.Cc
astable = Ct(C(1)^0)

function compress(t)
    local ret = {}
    for i, v in ipairs(t) do
      if t[i-1] and v == t[i-1] then
        ret[#ret - 1] = ret[#ret - 1] + 1
      else
        ret[#ret + 1] = 1
        ret[#ret + 1] = v
      end
    end
    t = ret
    return table.concat(ret)
end
q = io.read()
print(compress(astable:match(q))) 

undo = Ct((Cf(Cc"0" * C(R"09")^1, function(a, b) return 10 * a + b end) * C(R"AZ"))^0)

function decompress(s)
  t = undo:match(s)
  local ret = ""
  for i = 1, #t - 1, 2 do
    for _ = 1, t[i] do
      ret = ret .. t[i+1]
    end
  end
  return ret
end

M2000 Interpreter

Module RLE_example {
	inp$="WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW"
	Print "Input: ";inp$
	Function RLE$(r$){
		Function rle_run$(&r$) {
			if len(r$)=0 then exit
			p=1
			c$=left$(r$,1)
			while c$=mid$(r$, p, 1) {p++}
			=format$("{0}{1}",p-1, c$)
			r$=mid$(r$, p)
		}
		def repl$
		while len(r$)>0 {repl$+=rle_run$(&r$)}
		=repl$
	}
	RLE_encode$=RLE$(inp$)
	Print "RLE Encoded: ";RLE_encode$
	Function RLE_decode$(r$) {
		def repl$
		def long m, many=1
		while r$<>"" and many>0 {
			many=val(r$, "INT", &m)	
			repl$+=string$(mid$(r$, m, 1), many)
			r$=mid$(r$,m+1)
		}
		=repl$
	}
	RLE_decode$=RLE_decode$(RLE_encode$)
	Print "RLE Decoded: ";RLE_decode$
	Print "Checked: ";RLE_decode$=inp$
}
RLE_example
Output:
Input: WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
RLE Encoded: 12W1B12W3B24W1B14W
RLE Decoded: WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
Checked: True

Mathematica/Wolfram Language

The function

RunLengthEncode[input_String]:= (l |-> {First@l, Length@l}) /@ (Split@Characters@input)

takes as input an arbitrary string of characters and returns a list of {c, n} pairs, where c is the character and n is the number of repeats. The function

RunLengthDecode[input_List]:= ConstantArray @@@ input // Flatten // StringJoin

recreates the string.

Example: For the string

mystring="WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW";

here is the run-length encoding:

rle = RunLengthEncode[mystring]

{{"W", 12}, {"B", 1}, {"W", 12}, {"B", 3}, {"W", 24}, {"B", 1}, {"W", 14}}

Check that the input string is recreated:

mystring == RunLengthDecode[rle]

True

Maxima

To encode

rle(a) := block(
   [n: slength(a), b: "", c: charat(a, 1), k: 1],
   for i from 2 thru n do
      if cequal(c, charat(a, i)) then k: k + 1 else (b: sconcat(b, k, c), c: charat(a, i), k: 1),
   sconcat(b, k, c)
)$

To decode

/* Function to return a list where all but the last entries are integers */
intbucket(lst):=block(bucket:[],while integerp(first(lst)) do (push(first(lst),bucket),lst:rest(lst)),lst:append(reverse(bucket),[first(lst)]));

/* Run-length decoding */
rld(string_list):=block(
coref:map(eval_string,charlist(string_list)),
listcharact:sublist(coref,lambda([x],integerp(x)=false)),
map(intbucket,append([coref],makelist(coref:rest(coref,length(intbucket(coref))),length(listcharact)-1))),
makelist(sublist(%%[i],integerp),i,1,length(%%)),
map(eval_string,makelist(apply(concat,%%[i]),i,1,length(%%))),
makelist(smake(%%[i],string(listcharact[i])),i,1,length(listcharact)),
apply(concat,%%));

Output

rle("WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW");
"12W1B12W3B24W1B14W"
rld(%);
/* "WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW" */

MMIX

	LOC	Data_Segment
	GREG	@
Buf	OCTA	0,0,0,0         integer print buffer
Char	BYTE	0,0             single char print buffer
task	BYTE	"WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWW"
	BYTE    "WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW",0
len	GREG	@-1-task

// task should become this
tEnc	BYTE	"12W1B12W3B24W1B14W",0

	GREG	@
// tuple array for encoding purposes
// each tuple is a tetra (4 bytes long or 2 wydes long)
// (c,l) in which c is a char and l = number of chars c
// high wyde of the tetra contains the char
// low wyde  .. ..  ..    contains the length
RLE	TETRA	0 

	LOC	#100            locate program
	GREG	@
// print number to stdout
// destroys input arg $3 !
Prt64	LDA	$255,Buf+23    points to LSD
//			       do
2H	DIV	$3,$3,10        (N,R) = divmod (N,10)
	GET	$13,rR          get remainder
	INCL	$13,'0'         convert to ascii
	STBU	$13,$255        store ascii digit
	BZ	$3,3F
	SUB	$255,$255,1     move pointer down
	JMP	2B             While N !=0 
3H	TRAP	0,Fputs,StdOut print number to standard out
	GO	$127,$127,0    return

	GREG	@
// print char to stdout
PChar	LDA	$255,Char
	STBU	$4,$255
	TRAP	0,Fputs,StdOut
	GO	$127,$127,0

	GREG	@
// encode routine
// $0 string pointer
// $1 index var
// $2 pointer to tuple array
// $11 temp var tuple 
Encode	SET	$1,0        initialize index = 0
	SET	$11,0       postion in string = 0
	LDBU	$3,$0,$1    get first char
	ADDU	$6,$3,0     remember it
                            do
1H	INCL	$1,1          repeat  incr index
	LDBU	$3,$0,$1              get a char
	BZ	$3,2F                 if EOS then finish
	CMP	$7,$3,$6     
	PBZ	$7,1B         while new == old 
	XOR	$4,$4,$4      new tuple
	ADDU	$4,$6,0      
	SLU	$4,$4,16      old char to tuple -> (c,_)
	SUB	$7,$1,$11     length = index - previous position
	ADDU	$11,$1,0      incr position
	OR	$4,$4,$7      length l to tuple -> (c,l)
	STT	$4,$2         put tuple in array 
	ADDU	$6,$3,0       remember new char
	INCL	$2,4          incr 'tetra' pointer
	JMP	1B          loop
2H	XOR	$4,$4,$4    put last tuple in array
	ADDU	$4,$6,0
	SLU	$4,$4,16
	SUB	$7,$1,$11
	ADDU	$11,$1,0
	OR	$4,$4,$7
	STT	$4,$2		
	GO	$127,$127,0 return

	GREG	@
Main	LDA	$0,task      pointer uncompressed string
	LDA	$2,RLE	     pointer tuple array
	GO	$127,Encode  encode string
	LDA	$2,RLE	     points to start tuples
	SET	$5,#ffff     mask for extracting length
1H	LDTU	$3,$2        while not End of Array
	BZ	$3,2F        
	SRU	$4,$3,16      char   = (c,_)
	AND	$3,$3,$5      length = (_,l)
	GO	$127,Prt64    print length
	GO	$127,PChar    print char
	INCL	$2,4          incr tuple pointer
	JMP	1B           wend
2H	SET	$4,#a        print NL
	GO	$127,PChar

// decode using the RLE tuples
	LDA	$2,RLE	     pointer tuple array
	SET	$5,#ffff     mask
1H	LDTU	$3,$2        while not End of Array
	BZ	$3,2F
	SRU	$4,$3,16      char   = (c,_)
	AND	$3,$3,$5      length = (_,l)
//                            for (i=0;i<length;i++) {
3H	GO	$127,PChar      print a char
	SUB	$3,$3,1
	PBNZ	$3,3B
	INCL	$2,4
	JMP	1B            }
2H	SET	$4,#a        print NL
	GO	$127,PChar
	TRAP	0,Halt,0     EXIT

Example run encode --> decode:

~/MIX/MMIX/Rosetta> mmix rle
12W1B12W3B24W1B14W
WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

Nim

Translation of: Python
import parseutils, strutils

proc compress(input: string): string =
  var
    count = 1
    prev = '\0'

  for ch in input:
    if ch != prev:
      if prev != '\0':
        result.add $count & prev
      count = 1
      prev = ch
    else:
      inc count
  result.add $count & prev

proc uncompress(text: string): string =
  var start = 0
  var count: int
  while true:
    let n = text.parseInt(count, start)
    if n == 0 or start + n >= text.len:
      raise newException(ValueError, "corrupted data.")
    inc start, n
    result.add repeat(text[start], count)
    inc start
    if start == text.len: break


const Text = "WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW"

echo "Text:         ", Text
let compressed = Text.compress()
echo "Compressed:   ", compressed
echo "Uncompressed: ", compressed.uncompress()
Output:
Text:         WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
Compressed:   12W1B12W3B24W1B14W
Uncompressed: WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

Objeck

use RegEx;

class RunLengthEncoding {
  function : Main(args : String[]) ~ Nil {
    input := "WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW";
    
    encoded := Encode(input);
    "encoding: {$encoded}"->PrintLine();
    test := encoded->Equals("12W1B12W3B24W1B14W");
    "encoding match: {$test}"->PrintLine();
    
    decoded := Decode(encoded);
    test := input->Equals(decoded);
    "decoding match: {$test}"->PrintLine();
  }
  
  function : Encode(source : String) ~ String {
    dest := "";
    each(i : source) {
      runLength := 1;
      while(i+1 < source->Size() & source->Get(i) = source->Get(i+1)) {
        runLength+= 1;
        i+= 1;
      };
      dest->Append(runLength);
      dest->Append(source->Get(i));
    };

    return dest;
  }

  function : Decode(source : String) ~ String {
    output := "";
    regex := RegEx->New("[0-9]+|([A-Z]|[a-z])");
    found := regex->Find(source);
    count : Int;
    each(i : found) {
      if(i % 2 = 0) {
        count := found->Get(i)->As(String)->ToInt();
      }
      else {
        letter := found->Get(i)->As(String);
        while(count <> 0) {
          output->Append(letter);
          count -= 1;
        };
      };
    };
    
    return output;
  }
}
encoding: 12W1B12W3B24W1B14W
encoding match: true
decoding match: true

Objective-C

See Run-length encoding/Objective-C

OCaml

let encode str =
  let len = String.length str in
  let rec aux i acc =
    if i >= len then List.rev acc
    else
      let c1 = str.[i] in
      let rec aux2 j =
        if j >= len then (c1, j-i)
        else
          let c2 = str.[j] in
          if c1 = c2
          then aux2 (j+1)
          else (c1, j-i)
      in
      let (c,n) as t = aux2 (i+1) in
      aux (i+n) (t::acc)
  in
  aux 0 []
;;

let decode lst =
  let l = List.map (fun (c,n) -> String.make n c) lst in
  (String.concat "" l)
let () =
  let e = encode "aaaaahhhhhhmmmmmmmuiiiiiiiaaaaaa" in
  List.iter (fun (c,n) ->
    Printf.printf " (%c, %d);\n" c n;
  ) e;
  print_endline (decode [('a', 5); ('h', 6); ('m', 7); ('u', 1); ('i', 7); ('a', 6)]);
;;
Using regular expressions
#load "str.cma";;

open Str

let encode =
  global_substitute (Str.regexp "\\(.\\)\\1*")
    (fun s -> string_of_int (String.length (matched_string s)) ^
              matched_group 1 s)

let decode =
  global_substitute (Str.regexp "\\([0-9]+\\)\\([^0-9]\\)")
    (fun s -> String.make (int_of_string (matched_group 1 s))
                          (matched_group 2 s).[0])

let () =
  print_endline (encode "WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW");
  print_endline (decode "12W1B12W3B24W1B14W");

Oforth

: encode(s) 
   StringBuffer new 
   s group apply(#[ tuck size asString << swap first <<c ]) ;

: decode(s)
| c i |
   StringBuffer new
   0 s forEach: c [
      c isDigit ifTrue: [ 10 * c asDigit + continue ]
      loop: i [ c <<c ] 0
      ]
   drop ;
Output:
>"WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW" encode .s
[1] (StringBuffer) 12W1B12W3B24W1B14W
ok
>decode .s
[1] (StringBuffer) WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
ok

Ol

(define (RLE str)
   (define iter (string->list str))
   (let loop ((iter iter) (chr (car iter)) (n 0) (rle '()))
      (cond
         ((null? iter)
            (reverse (cons (cons n chr) rle)))
         ((char=? chr (car iter))
            (loop (cdr iter) chr (+ n 1) rle))
         (else
            (loop (cdr iter) (car iter) 1 (cons (cons n chr) rle))))))

(define (decode rle)
   (apply string-append (map (lambda (p)
      (make-string (car p) (cdr p))) rle)))

Test:

(define str "WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW")
(print str)

(define rle (RLE str))
(for-each (lambda (pair)
      (print (car pair) " : " (string (cdr pair))))
   rle)
(print (decode rle))
Output:
WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
12 : W
1 : B
12 : W
3 : B
24 : W
1 : B
14 : W
WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

Oz

declare
  fun {RLEncode Xs}
     for G in {Group Xs} collect:C do
	{C {Length G}#G.1}
     end
  end

  fun {RLDecode Xs}
     for C#Y in Xs append:Ap do
	{Ap {Replicate Y C}}
     end
  end

  %% Helpers
  %% e.g. "1122" -> ["11" "22"]
  fun {Group Xs}
     case Xs of nil then nil
     [] X|Xr then
	Ys Zs
        {List.takeDropWhile Xr fun {$ W} W==X end ?Ys ?Zs}
     in
        (X|Ys) | {Group Zs}
     end
  end
  %% e.g. 3,4 -> [3 3 3 3] 
  fun {Replicate X N}
     case N of 0 then nil
     else X|{Replicate X N-1}
     end
  end
  
  Data = "WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW"
  Enc = {RLEncode Data}
in
  {System.showInfo Data}
  {Show Enc}
  {System.showInfo {RLDecode Enc}}

PARI/GP

rle(s)={
  if(s=="", return(s));
  my(v=Vec(s),cur=v[1],ct=1,out="");
  v=concat(v,99); \\ sentinel
  for(i=2,#v,
    if(v[i]==cur,
      ct++
    ,
      out=Str(out,ct,cur);
      cur=v[i];
      ct=1
    )
  );
  out
};
elr(s)={
  if(s=="", return(s));
  my(v=Vec(s),ct=eval(v[1]),out="");
  v=concat(v,99); \\ sentinel
  for(i=2,#v,
    if(v[i]>="0" && v[i]<="9",
      ct=10*ct+eval(v[i])
    ,
      for(j=1,ct,out=Str(out,v[i]));
      ct=0
    )
  );
  out
};
rle("WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW")
elr(%)

Output:

%1 = "12W1B12W3B24W1B14W"

%2 = "WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW"

Pascal

Program RunLengthEncoding(output);
                     
procedure encode(s: string; var counts: array of integer; var letters: string);
  var
    i, j: integer;
  begin
    j := 0;
    letters := '';
    if length(s) > 0 then
    begin
      j := 1;
      letters := letters + s[1];
      counts[1] := 1;
      for i := 2 to length(s) do
        if s[i] = letters[j] then
          inc(counts[j])
        else
        begin
          inc(j);
          letters := letters + s[i];
          counts[j] := 1;
        end;
    end;
  end;

procedure decode(var s: string; counts: array of integer; letters: string);
  var
    i, j: integer;
  begin
    s := '';
    for i := 1 to length(letters) do
      for j := 1 to counts[i] do
        s := s + letters[i];
  end;

var
  s: string;
  counts: array of integer;
  letters: string;
  i: integer;
begin
  s := 'WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWW';
  writeln(s);
  setlength(counts, length(s));
  encode(s, counts, letters);
  for i := 1 to length(letters) - 1 do
    write(counts[i], ' * ', letters[i], ', ');
  writeln(counts[length(letters)], ' * ', letters[length(letters)]);
  decode(s, counts, letters);
  writeln(s);
end.

Output:

:> ./RunLengthEncoding
WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWW
12 * W, 1 * B, 12 * W, 3 * B, 24 * W, 1 * B, 13 * W
WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWW

Perl

Simple version using ASCII numerals as length markers, like the example in the task description (won't work correctly on input strings that already contain digits):

sub encode {
    shift =~ s/(.)\1*/length($&).$1/grse;
}

sub decode {
    shift =~ s/(\d+)(.)/$2 x $1/grse;
}

Modified version that can take arbitrary byte strings as input (produces encoded byte strings that are compatible with the C solution):

sub encode {
    shift =~ s/(.)\1{0,254}/pack("C", length($&)).$1/grse;
}

sub decode {
    shift =~ s/(.)(.)/$2 x unpack("C", $1)/grse;
}

Further modified version that supports compact representation of longer non-repeating substrings, just like the C solution (so should be fully compatible with that solution for both encoding and decoding):

sub encode {
    my $str = shift;
    my $ret = "";
    my $nonrep = "";
    while ($str =~ m/(.)\1{0,127}|\z/gs) {
        my $len = length($&);
        if (length($nonrep) && (length($nonrep) == 127 || $len != 1)) {
            $ret .= pack("C", 128 + length($nonrep)) . $nonrep;
            $nonrep = "";
        }
        if    ($len == 1) { $nonrep .= $1 }
        elsif ($len > 1)  { $ret .= pack("C", $len) . $1 }
    }
    return $ret;
}

sub decode {
    my $str = shift;
    my $ret = "";
    for (my $i = 0; $i < length($str);) {
        my $len = unpack("C", substr($str, $i, 1));
        if ($len <= 128) {
            $ret .= substr($str, $i + 1, 1) x $len;
            $i += 2;
        }
        else {
            $ret .= substr($str, $i + 1, $len - 128);
            $i += 1 + $len - 128;
        }
    }
    return $ret;
}

Demonstration of the third version:

use Data::Dump qw(dd);
dd my $str = "XXXXXABCDEFGHIoooooooooooooooooooooooooAAAAAA";
dd my $enc = encode($str);
dd decode($enc);
Output:
"XXXXXABCDEFGHIoooooooooooooooooooooooooAAAAAA"
"\5X\x89ABCDEFGHI\31o\6A"
"XXXXXABCDEFGHIoooooooooooooooooooooooooAAAAAA"

Phix

Based on Euphoria, but uses a few string in place of sequence.

with javascript_semantics
function encode(string s)
    sequence r = {}
    if length(s) then
        integer ch = s[1],
                count = 1
        for i=2 to length(s) do
            if s[i]!=ch then
                r &= {count,ch}
                ch = s[i]
                count = 1
            else
                count += 1
            end if
        end for
        r &= {count,ch}
    end if
    return r
end function
 
function decode(sequence s)
    string r = ""
    for i=1 to length(s) by 2 do
        r &= repeat(s[i+1],s[i])
    end for
    return r
end function
 
sequence s = encode("WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW")
?s
?decode(s)
Output:

Note the character hints are desktop/Phix only and don't appear under p2js.

{12,87'W',1,66'B',12,87'W',3,66'B',24,87'W',1,66'B',14,87'W'}
"WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW"

PHP

<?php
function encode($str)
{
    return preg_replace_callback('/(.)\1*/', function ($match) {
        return strlen($match[0]) . $match[1];
    }, $str);
}

function decode($str)
{
    return preg_replace_callback('/(\d+)(\D)/', function($match) {
        return str_repeat($match[2], $match[1]);
    }, $str);
}

echo encode('WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW'), PHP_EOL;
echo decode('12W1B12W3B24W1B14W'), PHP_EOL;
?>

Picat

While loop

Quite slow.

rle(S) = RLE => 
  RLE = "",
  Char = S[1],
  I = 2,
  Count = 1,
  while (I <= S.len)
    if Char == S[I] then
      Count := Count + 1
    else 
      RLE := RLE ++ Count.to_string() ++ Char.to_string(),
      Count := 1,
      Char := S[I]
    end,
    I := I + 1
  end,
  RLE := RLE ++ Count.to_string() ++ Char.to_string().

Using positions of different chars

Much faster than rle/1.

rle2(S) = RLE =>
  Ix = [1] ++ [I : I in 2..S.len, S[I] != S[I-1]] ++ [S.len+1],
  Diffs = diff(Ix),
  RLE = [Diffs[I].to_string() ++ S[Ix[I]].to_string() : I in 1..Diffs.len].join('').

Recursive approach

The fastest version.

rle3(S) = RLE =>
  rle3(S.tail(),S[1],1,[],RLE).

rle3([],LastChar,Count,RLE1,RLE) =>
  RLE = (RLE1 ++ [Count.to_string(),LastChar.to_string()]).join('').

rle3([C|T],LastChar,Count,RLE1,RLE) =>
  C == LastChar ->
    rle3(T,C,Count+1,RLE1,RLE)
  ;
    rle3(T,C,1,RLE1++[Count.to_string()++LastChar.to_string()],RLE).

Test

Encode and decode (only using rle3/1):

go => 
  S = "WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWA",
  println(S),
  RLE = rle3(S),
  println(rle=RLE),
  D = rl_decode(RLE),
  println(D),
  if D == S then
    println(ok)
  else
    println(not_ok)
  end,
  nl.
Output:
WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWA
rle = 12W1B12W3B24W1B14W1A
WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWA
ok

Benchmark on larger string

A benchmark on a larger string (30_000) clearly shows that rle3/1 is the fastest.

go2 =>
  _ = random2(),
  Alpha = "AB",
  Len2 = Alpha.len,
  _ = random2(),
  S = [Alpha[random(1,Len2)] : _ in 1..30_000],
  if S.len < 200 then println(s=S) end ,
  println("rle/1:"),
  time(_=rle(S)),
  println("rle2/1:"),
  time(_=rle2(S)),
  println("rle3/1:"),
  time(_=rle3(S)),
  nl.
Output:
rle/1:

CPU time 4.02 seconds.

rle3/1:

CPU time 2.422 seconds.

rle3/1:

CPU time 0.812 seconds.

PicoLisp

(de encode (Str)
   (pack
      (make
         (for (Lst (chop Str) Lst)
            (let (N 1  C)
               (while (= (setq C (pop 'Lst)) (car Lst))
                  (inc 'N) )
               (link N C) ) ) ) ) )

(de decode (Str)
   (pack
      (make
         (let N 0
            (for C (chop Str)
               (if (>= "9" C "0")
                  (setq N (+ (format C) (* 10 N)))
                  (do N (link C))
                  (zero N) ) ) ) ) ) )
            
(and
   (prinl "Data:    " "WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW")
   (prinl "Encoded: " (encode @))
   (prinl "Decoded: " (decode @)) )

Output:

Data:    WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
Encoded: 12W1B12W3B24W1B14W
Decoded: WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

PL/I

declare (c1, c2) character (1);
declare run_length fixed binary;
declare input file;

open file (input) title ('/RLE.DAT,type(text),recsize(20000)');
on endfile (input) go to epilog;

get file (input) edit (c1) (a(1));
run_length = 1;
do forever;
   get file (input) edit (c2) (a(1));
   if c1 = c2 then
      run_length = run_length + 1;
   else
      do; put edit (trim(run_length), c1) (a); run_length=1; end;
   c1 = c2;
end;
epilog:
   put edit (trim(run_length), c1) (a);
   put skip;


/* The reverse of the above operation: */
declare c character (1);
declare i fixed binary;
declare new file;

open file (new) title ('/NEW.DAT,type(text),recsize(20000)');
on endfile (new) stop;
do forever;
   run_length = 0;
   do forever;
      get file (new) edit (c) (a(1));
      if index('0123456789', c) = 0 then leave;
      run_length = run_length*10 + c;
   end;
   put edit ((c do i = 1 to run_length)) (a);
end;

PowerBASIC

This version can handle any arbitrary string that doesn't contain numbers (not just letters). (A flag value could be added which would allow the inclusion of any character, but such a flag isn't in this example.)

FUNCTION RLDecode (i AS STRING) AS STRING
    DIM Loop0 AS LONG, rCount AS STRING, outP AS STRING, m AS STRING

    FOR Loop0 = 1 TO LEN(i)
        m = MID$(i, Loop0, 1)
        SELECT CASE m
            CASE "0" TO "9"
                rCount = rCount & m
            CASE ELSE
                IF LEN(rCount) THEN
                    outP = outP & STRING$(VAL(rCount), m)
                    rCount=""
                ELSE
                    outP = outP & m
                END IF
        END SELECT
    NEXT
    FUNCTION = outP
END FUNCTION

FUNCTION RLEncode (i AS STRING) AS STRING
    DIM tmp1 AS STRING, tmp2 AS STRING, outP AS STRING
    DIM Loop0 AS LONG, rCount AS LONG

    tmp1 = MID$(i, 1, 1)
    tmp2 = tmp1
    rCount = 1

    FOR Loop0 = 2 TO LEN(i)
        tmp1 = MID$(i, Loop0, 1)
        IF tmp1 <> tmp2 THEN
            outP = outP & TRIM$(STR$(rCount)) & tmp2
            tmp2 = tmp1
            rCount = 1
        ELSE
            INCR rCount
        END IF
    NEXT

    outP = outP & TRIM$(STR$(rCount))
    outP = outP & tmp2
    FUNCTION = outP
END FUNCTION

FUNCTION PBMAIN () AS LONG
    DIM initial AS STRING, encoded AS STRING, decoded AS STRING
    initial = INPUTBOX$("Type something.")
    encoded = RLEncode(initial)
    decoded = RLDecode(encoded)
    'in PB/Win, "?" = MSGBOX; in PB/DOS & PB/CC. "?" = PRINT
    ? initial & $CRLF & encoded & $CRLF & decoded
END FUNCTION

Outputs are similar to those in BASIC, above.

PowerShell

function Compress-RLE ($s) {
    $re = [regex] '(.)\1*'
    $ret = ""
    foreach ($m in $re.Matches($s)) {
        $ret += $m.Length
        $ret += $m.Value[0]
    }
    return $ret
}

function Expand-RLE ($s) {
    $re = [regex] '(\d+)(.)'
    $ret = ""
    foreach ($m in $re.Matches($s)) {
        $ret += [string] $m.Groups[2] * [int] [string] $m.Groups[1]
    }
    return $ret
}

Output:

PS> Compress-RLE "WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW"
12W1B12W3B24W1B14W
PS> Expand-RLE "12W1B12W3B24W1B14W"
WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

Prolog

Works with SWI-Prolog.
This code is inspired from a code found here : http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.prolog/browse_thread/thread/b053ea2512e8b350 (author : Pascal J. Bourguignon).

% the test
run_length :-
	L = "WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW",
	writef('encode %s\n', [L]),
	encode(L, R),
	writeln(R), nl,
	writef('decode %w\n', [R]),
	decode(R, L1),
	writeln(L1).

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%
%  encode
%  
%  translation
%  from
%  "WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW"
%  to
%  "12W1B12W3B24W1B14W"
%  
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
encode(In, Out) :-
	% Because of the special management of the "strings" by Prolog
	( is_list(In) -> I = In; string_to_list(In, I)),
	packList(I, R1),
	dcg_packList2List(R1,R2, []),
	string_to_list(Out,R2).



dcg_packList2List([[N, V]|T]) -->
	{ number_codes(N, LN)},
	LN,
	[V],
	dcg_packList2List(T).

dcg_packList2List([]) --> [].


%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%
%  decode
%  
%  translation
%  from
%  "12W1B12W3B24W1B14W"
%  to
%  "WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW"
%  
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
decode(In, Out) :-
	% Because of the special management of the "strings" by Prolog
	( is_list(In) -> I = In; string_to_list(In, I)),
	dcg_List2packList(I, R1, []),
	packList(L1, R1),
	string_to_list(Out, L1).


dcg_List2packList([H|T]) -->
	{code_type(H, digit)},
	parse_number([H|T], 0).

dcg_List2packList([]) --> [].


parse_number([H|T], N) -->
	{code_type(H, digit), !,
	N1 is N*10 + H - 48 },
	parse_number(T, N1).

parse_number([H|T], N) -->
	[[N, H]],
	dcg_List2packList(T).


% use of library clpfd allows packList(?In, ?Out) to works
% in both ways In --> Out and In <-- Out.

:- use_module(library(clpfd)).

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
%
% ?- packList([a,a,a,b,c,c,c,d,d,e], L).
%  L = [[3,a],[1,b],[3,c],[2,d],[1,e]] .
% ?- packList(R,  [[3,a],[1,b],[3,c],[2,d],[1,e]]).
% R = [a,a,a,b,c,c,c,d,d,e] .
%  
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
packList([],[]).

packList([X],[[1,X]]) :- !.


packList([X|Rest],[XRun|Packed]):-
    run(X,Rest, XRun,RRest),
    packList(RRest,Packed).


run(Var,[],[1,Var],[]).

run(Var,[Var|LRest],[N1, Var],RRest):-
    N #> 0,
    N1 #= N + 1,
    run(Var,LRest,[N, Var],RRest).


run(Var,[Other|RRest], [1,Var],[Other|RRest]):-
    dif(Var,Other).

Output :

 ?- run_length.
encode WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
12W1B12W3B24W1B14W

decode 12W1B12W3B24W1B14W
WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
true .

Pure

using system;

encode s = strcat $ map (sprintf "%d%s") $ encode $ chars s with
  encode [] = [];
  encode xs@(x:_) = (#takewhile (==x) xs,x) : encode (dropwhile (==x) xs);
end;

decode s = strcat [c | n,c = parse s; i = 1..n] with
  parse s::string = regexg item "([0-9]+)(.)" REG_EXTENDED s 0;
  item info = val (reg 1 info!1), reg 2 info!1;
end;

let s = "WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW";
let r = encode s; // "12W1B12W3B24W1B14W"
decode r;

PureBasic

Translation of: PowerBasic
with some optimations to use pointers instead of string functions. According to the task description it works with uppercase A - Z. In this implementation it also functions with all characters that are non-digits and whose value is non-zero.
Procedure.s RLDecode(toDecode.s)
  Protected.s repCount, output, currChar, tmp
  Protected *c.Character = @toDecode

  While *c\c <> #Null
    currChar = Chr(*c\c)
    Select *c\c
      Case '0' To '9'
        repCount + currChar
      Default
        If repCount
          tmp = Space(Val(repCount))
          ReplaceString(tmp, " ", currChar, #PB_String_InPlace)
          output + tmp
          repCount = ""
        Else
          output + currChar
        EndIf
    EndSelect
    *c + SizeOf(Character)
  Wend
  
  ProcedureReturn output
EndProcedure
 
Procedure.s RLEncode(toEncode.s)
  Protected.s currChar, prevChar, output
  Protected repCount
  Protected *c.Character = @toEncode

  prevChar = Chr(*c\c)
  repCount = 1

  *c + SizeOf(Character)
  While *c\c <> #Null
    currChar = Chr(*c\c)
    If currChar <> prevChar
      output + Str(repCount) + prevChar
      prevChar = currChar
      repCount = 1
    Else
      repCount + 1
    EndIf
    *c + SizeOf(Character)
  Wend

  output + Str(repCount)
  output + prevChar
  ProcedureReturn output
EndProcedure
 
If OpenConsole()
  Define initial.s, encoded.s, decoded.s
  
  Print("Type something: ")
  initial = Input()
  encoded = RLEncode(initial)
  decoded = RLDecode(encoded)
  PrintN(initial)
  PrintN(RLEncode(initial))
  PrintN(RLDecode(encoded))
  
  Print(#CRLF$ + #CRLF$ + "Press ENTER to exit")
  Input()
  CloseConsole()
EndIf

Sample output:

Type something: WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWW
WWW
WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
12W1B12W3B24W1B14W
WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

Python

def encode(input_string):
    count = 1
    prev = None
    lst = []
    for character in input_string:
        if character != prev:
            if prev:
                entry = (prev, count)
                lst.append(entry)
            count = 1
            prev = character
        else:
            count += 1
    else:
        try:
            entry = (character, count)
            lst.append(entry)
            return (lst, 0)
        except Exception as e:
            print("Exception encountered {e}".format(e=e)) 
            return (e, 1)
 
def decode(lst):
    q = []
    for character, count in lst:
        q.append(character * count)
    return ''.join(q)
 
#Method call
value = encode("aaaaahhhhhhmmmmmmmuiiiiiiiaaaaaa")
if value[1] == 0:
    print("Encoded value is {}".format(value[0]))
    decode(value[0])

Functional

Works with: Python version 2.4
from itertools import groupby
def encode(input_string):
    return [(len(list(g)), k) for k,g in groupby(input_string)]

def decode(lst):
    return ''.join(c * n for n,c in lst)

encode("aaaaahhhhhhmmmmmmmuiiiiiiiaaaaaa")
decode([(5, 'a'), (6, 'h'), (7, 'm'), (1, 'u'), (7, 'i'), (6, 'a')])


By regular expression
The simplified input range of only uppercase characters allows a simple regular expression to be applied repeatedly for encoding, and another for decoding:

from re import sub

def encode(text):
    '''
    Doctest:
        >>> encode('WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW')
        '12W1B12W3B24W1B14W'    
    '''
    return sub(r'(.)\1*', lambda m: str(len(m.group(0))) + m.group(1),
               text)

def decode(text):
    '''
    Doctest:
        >>> decode('12W1B12W3B24W1B14W')
        'WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW'
    '''
    return sub(r'(\d+)(\D)', lambda m: m.group(2) * int(m.group(1)),
               text)

textin = "WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW"
assert decode(encode(textin)) == textin

Quackery

lookandsay is defined at Look-and-say sequence#Quackery.

  [ lookandsay ]          is encode ( $ --> $ )

  [ $ "" 0 rot
    witheach 
      [ dup 
        char 0 char 9 1+
        within iff
          [ char 0 -
            swap 10 * + ]
        else
          [ swap of join 
            0 ] ]
    drop ]                is decode ( $ --> $ )

  $ "WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW" 
   dup echo$ cr
   encode
   dup echo$ cr
   decode
   echo$ cr
Output:
WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
12W1B12W3B24W1B14W
WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

R

R has a built-in function, rle, for run length encoding. This modification allows input and output in the forms specified above.

runlengthencoding <- function(x)
{
   splitx <- unlist(strsplit(input, ""))
   rlex <- rle(splitx)
   paste(with(rlex, as.vector(rbind(lengths, values))), collapse="")
}

input <- "WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW"
runlengthencoding(input)

Similarly, inverse.rle provides decompression after a run length encoding.

inverserunlengthencoding <- function(x)
{
    lengths <- as.numeric(unlist(strsplit(output, "[[:alpha:]]")))
    values <- unlist(strsplit(output, "[[:digit:]]"))
    values <- values[values != ""]
    uncompressed <- inverse.rle(list(lengths=lengths, values=values))
    paste(uncompressed, collapse="")
}

output <- "12W1B12W3B24W1B14W"
inverserunlengthencoding(output)

Racket

#lang racket
(define (encode str)
  (regexp-replace* #px"(.)\\1*" str (λ (m c) (~a (string-length m) c))))
(define (decode str)
  (regexp-replace* #px"([0-9]+)(.)" str (λ (m n c) (make-string (string->number n) (string-ref c 0)))))

Raku

(formerly Perl 6) Note that Raku regexes don't care about unquoted whitespace, and that backrefs count from 0, not from 1.

sub encode($str) { $str.subst(/(.) $0*/, { $/.chars ~ $0 }, :g) }

sub decode($str) { $str.subst(/(\d+) (.)/, { $1 x $0 }, :g) }

my $e = encode('WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW');
say $e;
say decode($e);

Output:

12W1B12W3B24W1B14W 
WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

REXX

version 1

The task (input) rule was relaxed a bit as this program accepts upper─ and lowercase input.

An error message is generated if the input text is invalid.

In addition, a  yay  or  nay  message is also displayed if the decoding of the encoding was successful.

Note that this REXX version (for encoding and decoding) uses a   replication   count, not the   count   of characters,
so a replication count of   11   represents a count of   12   characters.

/*REXX program  encodes and displays a string  by using a  run─length  encoding scheme. */
parse arg input .                                /*normally, input would be in a file.  */
default= 'WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW'
if input=='' | input==","  then input=   default /*Not specified?  Then use the default.*/
encode= RLE(input) ;     say '  input='  input   /*encode input string;  display input. */
                         say 'encoded='  encode  /*                      display run─len*/
decode= RLD(encode);     say 'decoded='  decode  /*decode the run─len;   display decode.*/
if decode==input  then say 'OK'; else say "¬ OK" /*display yay or nay (success/failure).*/
exit 0                                           /*stick a fork in it,  we're all done. */
/*──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────*/
err: say;    say "***error***  input data isn't alphabetic:"   c;       say;     exit 13
/*──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────*/
RLE: procedure;  parse arg x;     $=             /*$:  is the output string  (so far).  */
                        Lx= length(x)            /*get length of the plain text string. */
       do j=1  by 0  to Lx;  c= substr(x, j, 1)  /*obtain a character from plain text.  */
       if \datatype(c, 'M')  then call err       /*Character not a letter?  Issue error.*/
       r= 0                                      /*R:  is NOT the number of characters. */
                     do k=j+1  to Lx  while substr(x, k, 1)==c   /*while characters ≡ C */
                     r= r + 1                    /*bump the replication count for a char*/
                     end   /*k*/
       j= j + r + 1                              /*increment (add to) the DO loop index.*/
       if r==0  then $= $ ||      c              /*don't use  R  if it is equal to zero.*/
                else $= $ || r || c              /*add character to the encoded string. */
       end   /*j*/;                   return $   /*return the encoded string to caller. */
/*──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────*/
RLD: procedure;  parse arg x;     $=             /*$:  is the output string  (so far).  */
                        Lx= length(x)            /*get the length of the encoded string.*/
       do j=1  by 0  to Lx;  c= substr(x, j, 1)  /*obtain a character from run encoding.*/
       if \datatype(c, 'W')  then do;   $= $ || c;     j= j + 1;     iterate /*j*/
                                  end            /* [↑]  a loner char, add it to output.*/
       #= 1                                      /*          [↓]  W:  use a Whole number*/
              do k=j+1  to Lx  while datatype(substr(x,k,1), 'w') /*while numeric*/
              #= # + 1                           /*bump the count of the numeric chars. */
              end   /*k*/
       n= substr(x, j, #) + 1                    /*#:  the length of encoded character. */
       $= $  ||  copies( substr(x, k, 1), n)     /*N:  is now the number of characters. */
       j= j + # + 1                              /*increment the DO loop index by D+1.  */
       end   /*j*/;                   return $   /*return the decoded string to caller. */
output   when using the default input:
  input= WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
encoded= 11WB11W2B23WB13W
decoded= WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

version 2

/*REXX*/
s='WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW'
Say '  s='s
enc=encode(s)
Say 'enc='enc
dec=decode(enc)
Say 'dec='dec
if dec==s Then Say 'OK'
Exit

encode: Procedure
Parse Arg s
c=left(s,1)
cnt=1
ol=''
Do i=2 To length(s)
  If substr(s,i,1)=c Then
    cnt=cnt+1
  Else Do
    Call o cnt||c
    c=substr(s,i,1)
    cnt=1
    End
  End
Call o cnt||c
Return ol

decode: Procedure
Parse Arg s
abc='ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ'
ol=''
Do While s<>''
  p=verify(s,abc,'M')
  Parse Var s cnt =(p) c +1 s
  Call o copies(c,cnt)
  End
Return ol

o: ol=ol||arg(1)
   Return
Output:
  s=WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
enc=12W1B12W3B24W1B14W
dec=WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
OK

version 3

No need to output counts that are 1

/*REXX*/
s='WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW'
Say '  s='s
enc=encode(s)
Say 'enc='enc
dec=decode(enc)
Say 'dec='dec
if dec==s Then Say 'OK'
Exit

encode: Procedure
Parse Arg s
c=left(s,1)
cnt=1
ol=''
Do i=2 To length(s)
  If substr(s,i,1)=c Then
    cnt=cnt+1
  Else Do
    If cnt=1 Then
      Call o c
    Else
      Call o cnt||c
    c=substr(s,i,1)
    cnt=1
    End
  End
Call o cnt||c
Return ol

decode: Procedure
Parse Arg s
abc='ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ'
ol=''
Do While s<>''
  p=verify(s,abc,'M')
  If pos(left(s,1),abc)>0 Then Do
    Parse Var s c +1 s
    Call o c
    End
  Else Do
    Parse Var s cnt =(p) c +1 s
    Call o copies(c,cnt)
    End
  End
Return ol

o: ol=ol||arg(1)
   Return
Output:
  s=WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
enc=12WB12W3B24WB14W
dec=WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
OK

Ring

# Project : Run-length encoding

load "stdlib.ring"
test = "WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW"
num = 0
nr = 0
decode = newlist(7,2)
for n = 1 to len(test) - 1
     if test[n] = test[n+1]
        num = num + 1
     else
        nr = nr + 1
        decode[nr][1] = (num + 1)
        decode[nr][2] = test[n]
        see "" + (num + 1) + test[n]
        num = 0
     ok
next
see "" + (num + 1) + test[n]
see nl
nr = nr + 1
decode[nr][1] = (num + 1)
decode[nr][2] = test[n]
for n = 1 to len(decode)
     dec = copy(decode[n][2], decode[n][1])
     see dec
next

Output:

12W1B12W3B24W1B14W
WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

RPL

≪ DUP 1 DUP SUB → in c 
  ≪ "" 1 
     2 in SIZE FOR j 
        in j DUP SUB 
        IF DUP c == THEN DROP 1 + 
        ELSE 
           ROT ROT 
           →STR + c + 
           SWAP 'c' STO 1 
        END 
     NEXT 
   →STR + c +
≫ ≫ ‘RLENC’ STO

≪ → in 
  ≪ "" 0 
     1 in SIZE FOR j 
        in j DUP SUB 
        IF DUP "A" ≥ THEN 
            ROT 1 4 ROLL START OVER + NEXT
            SWAP DROP 0
         ELSE STR→ SWAP 10 * + END 
      NEXT DROP
≫ ≫ ‘RLDEC’ STO
"WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW" RLENC DUP RLDEC
Output:
2: "12W1B12W3B24W1B14W"
1: "WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW"

Ruby


Built-in

Ruby has built-in run-length encoding in the form of chunk, here I provide a thin wrapper around it:

# run_encode("aaabbbbc") #=> [["a", 3], ["b", 4], ["c", 1]]
def run_encode(string)
  string
    .chars
    .chunk{|i| i}
    .map {|kind, array| [kind, array.length]}
end

# run_decode([["a", 3], ["b", 4], ["c", 1]]) #=> "aaabbbbc"
def run_decode(char_counts)
  char_counts
    .map{|char, count| char * count}
    .join
end
def encode(string)
  string.scan(/(.)(\1*)/).collect do |char, repeat|
    [1 + repeat.length, char] 
  end.join
end

def decode(string)
  string.scan(/(\d+)(\D)/).collect {|length, char| char * length.to_i}.join
end

This usage also seems to be idiomatic, and perhaps less cryptic:

def encode(string)
  string.scan(/(.)(\1*)/).inject("") do |encoding, (char, repeat)|
    encoding << (1 + repeat.length).to_s << char
  end
end

def decode(string)
  string.scan(/(\d+)(\D)/).inject("") do |decoding, (length, char)|
    decoding << char * length.to_i
  end
end


By regular expression
The simplified input range of only uppercase characters allows a simple regular expression to be applied repeatedly for encoding, and another for decoding:

def encode(str)
    str.gsub(/(.)\1*/) {$&.length.to_s + $1}
end

def decode(str)
    str.gsub(/(\d+)(\D)/) {$2 * $1.to_i}
end

Test:

orig = "WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW"
p enc = encode(orig)
p dec = decode(enc)
puts "success!" if dec == orig
Output:
"12W1B12W3B24W1B14W"
"WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW"
success!

Run BASIC

string$ = "WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW"
beg = 1
i   = 1
[loop]
s$ = mid$(string$,beg,1)
while mid$(string$,i,1) = s$
  i = i + 1
wend
press$ = press$ ; i-beg;s$
beg    = i
if i < len(string$) then goto [loop]
print "Compressed:";press$

beg = 1
i   = 1
[expand]
while mid$(press$,i,1) <= "9"
  i = i + 1
wend
for j = 1 to val(mid$(press$,beg, i - beg))
  expand$ = expand$ + mid$(press$,i,1)
next j
i   = i + 1
beg = i
if i < len(press$) then goto [expand]
print "  Expanded:";expand$
Output:
Compressed:12W1B12W3B24W1B14W
  Expanded:WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

Rust

fn encode(s: &str) -> String {
    s.chars()
        // wrap all values in Option::Some
        .map(Some)
        // add an Option::None onto the iterator to clean the pipeline at the end
        .chain(std::iter::once(None))
        .scan((0usize, '\0'), |(n, c), elem| match elem {
            Some(elem) if *n == 0 || *c == elem => {
                // the run continues or starts here
                *n += 1;
                *c = elem;
                // this will not have an effect on the final string because it is empty
                Some(String::new())
            }
            Some(elem) => {
                // the run ends here
                let run = format!("{}{}", n, c);
                *n = 1;
                *c = elem;
                Some(run)
            }
            None => {
                // the string ends here
                Some(format!("{}{}", n, c))
            }
        })
        // concatenate together all subresults
        .collect()
}

fn decode(s: &str) -> String {
    s.chars()
        .fold((0usize, String::new()), |(n, text), c| {
            if c.is_ascii_digit() {
                // some simple number parsing
                (
                    n * 10 + c.to_digit(10).expect("invalid encoding") as usize,
                    text,
                )
            } else {
                // this must be the character that is repeated
                (0, text + &format!("{}", c.to_string().repeat(n)))
            }
        })
        .1
}

fn main() {
    let text = "WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW";
    let encoded = encode(text);
    let decoded = decode(&encoded);

    println!("original: {}\n encoded: {}\n decoded: {}", text, encoded, decoded);
    assert_eq!(text, decoded);
}
Output:
original: WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
 encoded: 12W1B12W3B24W1B14W
 decoded: WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

Scala

Care is taken to use StringBuilder for performance reasons.

def encode(s: String) = (1 until s.size).foldLeft((1, s(0), new StringBuilder)) {
  case ((len, c, sb), index) if c != s(index) => sb.append(len); sb.append(c); (1, s(index), sb)
  case ((len, c, sb), _) => (len + 1, c, sb)
} match {
  case (len, c, sb) => sb.append(len); sb.append(c); sb.toString
}

def decode(s: String) = {
  val sb = new StringBuilder
  val Code = """(\d+)([A-Z])""".r
  for (Code(len, c) <- Code findAllIn s) sb.append(c * len.toInt)
  sb.toString
}

A simpler (?) encoder:

def encode(s:String) = {
  s.foldLeft((0,s(0),""))( (t,c) => t match {case (i,p,s) => if (p==c) (i+1,p,s) else (1,c,s+i+p)})
    match {case (i,p,s) => s+i+p}
}

To make it faster (it's also faster than the longer implementation above) just replace "" with new StringBuilder and s+i+p with {s.append(i);s.append(p)}

A simpler (?) decoder (that can handle a string like "2AB", producing "AAB"):

def decode(s: String, Code: scala.util.matching.Regex = """(\d+)?([a-zA-Z])""".r) =
  Code.findAllIn(s).foldLeft("") { case (acc, Code(len, c)) =>
    acc + c * Option(len).map(_.toInt).getOrElse(1)
  }

Scheme

(define (run-length-decode v)
   (apply string-append (map (lambda (p) (make-string (car p) (cdr p))) v)))

(define (run-length-encode s)
(let ((n (string-length s)))
(let loop ((i (- n 2)) (c (string-ref s (- n 1))) (k 1) (v '()))
(if (negative? i) (cons (cons k c) v)
    (let ((x (string-ref s i)))
    (if (char=? c x) (loop (- i 1) c (+ k 1) v)
                     (loop (- i 1) x 1 (cons (cons k c) v))))))))

(run-length-encode "WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW")
; ((12 . #\W) (1 . #\B) (12 . #\W) (3 . #\B) (24 . #\W) (1 . #\B) (14 . #\W))
(run-length-decode '((12 . #\W) (1 . #\B) (12 . #\W) (3 . #\B) (24 . #\W) (1 . #\B) (14 . #\W)))
; "WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW"

sed

The encode script:

	/^$/ b
:start 
	/^[0-9]/ b
	s/^/1/
:loop
	h
	/^9+([^0-9])\1+/ {
		s/^(9+).*/0\1/
		y/09/10/
		G
		s/^(.+)\n[0-9]+.(.*)/\1\2/
		b loop }
	/^[0-9]*[0-8]([^0-9])\1+/ {
		s/^[0-9]*([0-8]).*/\1/
		y/012345678/123456789/
		G
		s/^(.)\n([0-9]*)[0-8].(.*)/\2\1\3/
		b loop }
	/^[0-9]+9+([^0-9])\1+/ {
		s/^[0-9]*([0-8]9+).*/\1/
		y/0123456789/1234567890/
		G
		s/^(.+)\n([0-9]*)[0-8]9+.(.*)/\2\1\3/
		b loop }
	s/^([0-9]+.)(.*)/\2\1/
	b start

The decode script:

	/^$/ b
:start
	/^[^0-9]/ b
:loop
	/^1[^0-9]/ {
		s/^1(.)(\1*)(.*)/\3\1\2/
		b start }
	h
	/^[0-9]*[1-9][^0-9]/ {
		s/^[0-9]*([1-9]).*/\1/
		y/123456789/012345678/
		G
		s/^([0-8])\n([0-9]*)[1-9]([^0-9])(.*)/\2\1\3\3\4/
		b loop }
	/^[0-9]+0[^0-9]/ {
		s/^[0-9]*([1-9]0+)[^0-9].*/\1/
		y/0123456789/9012345678/
		G
		s/^([0-9]+)\n([0-9]*)[1-9]0+([^0-9])(.*)/\2\1\3\3\4/
		s/^0+//
		b loop }

Example (assuming the scripts reside in the files encode.sed and decode.sed):

sed -rf encode.sed <<< "foo oops"
# 1f2o1 2o1p1s

sed -rf decode.sed <<< "1f2o1 2o1p1s"
# foo oops

(sed -rf decode.sed | sed -rf encode.sed) <<< 1000.
# 1000.

Seed7

$ include "seed7_05.s7i";
  include "scanstri.s7i";

const func string: letterRleEncode (in string: data) is func
  result
    var string: result is "";
  local
    var char: code is ' ';
    var integer: index is 1;
  begin
    if length(data) <> 0 then
      code := data[1];
      repeat
        incr(index);
      until index > length(data) or code <> data[index];
      result := str(pred(index)) & str(code) & letterRleEncode(data[index ..]);
    end if;
  end func;

const func string: letterRleDecode (in var string: data) is func
  result
    var string: result is "";
  local
    var integer: count is 0;
  begin
    if length(data) <> 0 then
      count := integer parse getDigits(data);
      result := data[1 len 1] mult count & letterRleDecode(data[2 ..]);
    end if;
  end func;

const proc: main is func
  begin
    writeln(letterRleEncode("WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW"));
    writeln(letterRleDecode("12W1B12W3B24W1B14W"));
  end func;

SETL

program rle;
    test := "WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW";

    print("Input:");
    print(test);
    print("Encoded:");
    print(enc := rlencode(test));
    print("Decoded:");
    print(rldecode(enc));

    proc rlencode(s);
        loop while s /= "" do
            part := span(s, s(1));
            r +:= str #part + part(1);
        end loop;
        return r;
    end proc;

    proc rldecode(s);
        loop while s /= "" do
            num := span(s, "0123456789");
            item := notany(s, "");
            r +:= val num * item;
        end loop;
        return r;
    end proc;
end program;
Output:
Input:
WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
Encoded:
12W1B12W3B24W1B14W
Decoded:
WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

Sidef

First solution:

func encode(str) {
  str.gsub(/((.)(\2*))/, {|a,b| "#{a.len}#{b}" });
}

func decode(str) {
  str.gsub(/(\d+)(.)/, {|a,b| b * a.to_i });
}
Output:
12W1B12W3B24W1B14W

Second solution, encoding the length into a byte:

func encode(str) {
    str.gsub(/(.)(\1{0,254})/, {|a,b| b.len+1 -> chr + a});
}

func decode(str) {
     var chars = str.chars;
     var r = '';
     (chars.len/2 -> int).range.each { |i|
         r += (chars[2*i + 1] * chars[2*i].ord);
     }
     return r;
}
Output:
"\fW\1B\fW\3B\30W\1B\16W"

Smalltalk

See Run-length encoding/Smalltalk

A "functional" version without RunArray:

Works with: Smalltalk/X
(and others)
|compress decompress|
compress := [:string |
   String streamContents:[:out |
       |count prev|
       
       count := 0.
       (string,'*')  "trick to avoid final run handling in loop" 
          inject:nil 
          into:[:prevChar :ch |
              ch ~= prevChar ifTrue:[
                  count = 0 ifFalse:[
                      count printOn:out.
                      out nextPut:prevChar.
                      count := 0.
                  ].    
              ].
              count := count + 1.
              ch
          ]
   ]
].

decompress := [:string |
   String streamContents:[:out |
       string readingStreamDo:[:in |
           [in atEnd] whileFalse:[
               |n ch|
               n := Integer readFrom:in.
               ch := in next.
               out next:n put:ch.
            ]
       ]
   ].
].
compress value:'WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW' 
-> '12W1B12W3B24W1B14W'

decompress value:'12W1B12W3B24W1B14W'
-> 'WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW'

Most Smalltalk dialects include a class named "RunArray", which can be used as:

Works with: Smalltalk/X
Works with: VisualWorks
compress := [:string |
    String streamContents:[:out |
        string asRunArray runsDo:[:count :char |
            count printOn:out. out nextPut:char]]].

SNOBOL4

Works with: Macro Spitbol
Works with: Snobol4+
Works with: CSnobol
*       # Encode RLE
        define('rle(str)c,n') :(rle_end)
rle     str len(1) . c :f(return)
        str span(c) @n =
        rle = rle n c :(rle)
rle_end

*       # Decode RLE
        define('elr(str)c,n') :(elr_end)
elr     str span('0123456789') . n len(1) . c = :f(return)
        elr = elr dupl(c,n) :(elr)
elr_end

*       # Test and display
        str = 'WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW'
        output = str;
        str = rle(str); output = str
        str = elr(str); output = str
end

Output:

WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
12W1B12W3B24W1B14W
WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

SparForte

As a structured script.

#!/usr/local/bin/spar
pragma is
  annotate( summary, "rle" );
  annotate( description, "Given a string containing uppercase characters (A-Z)," );
  annotate( description, "compress repeated 'runs' of the same character by" );
  annotate( description, "storing the length of that run, and provide a function to" );
  annotate( description, "reverse the compression. The output can be anything, as" );
  annotate( description, "long as you can recreate the input with it." );
  annotate( description, "" );
  annotate( description, "Example:" );
  annotate( description, "Input: WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW" );
  annotate( description, "Output: 12W1B12W3B24W1B14W" );
  annotate( see_also, "http://rosettacode.org/wiki/Run-length_encoding" );
  annotate( author, "Ken O. Burtch" );
  license( unrestricted );
  restriction( no_external_commands );
end pragma;

procedure rle is

  function to_rle( s : string ) return string is
  begin
    if strings.length( s ) = 0 then
       return "";
    end if;
    declare
      result : string;
      code   : character;
      prefix : string;
      first  : natural := 1;
      index  : natural := 1;
    begin
      while index <= strings.length( s ) loop
        first := index;
        index := @+1;
        code := strings.element( s, positive(first) );
        while index <= strings.length( s ) loop
          exit when code /= strings.element( s, positive(index) );
          index := @+1;
          exit when index-first = 99;
        end loop;
        prefix := strings.trim( strings.image( index - first ), trim_end.left );
        result := @ & prefix & code;
      end loop;
      return result;
    end;
  end to_rle;

  function from_rle( s : string ) return string is
  begin
    if strings.length( s ) = 0 then
       return "";
    end if;
    declare
      result : string;
      index  : positive := 1;
      prefix : string;
      code : character;
    begin
      loop
        prefix := "" & strings.element( s, index );
        index := @+1;
        if strings.is_digit( strings.element( s, index ) ) then
          prefix := @ & strings.element( s, index );
          index := @+1;
        end if;
        code := strings.element( s, index );
        index := @+1;
        result := @ & ( numerics.value( prefix ) * code );
        exit when natural(index) > strings.length( s );
      end loop;
      return result;
    end;
  end from_rle;

begin
  ? to_rle( "WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW" );
  ? from_rle( "12W1B12W3B24W1B14W");
end rle;

SQL

Works with: PL/pgSQL


  • RLE encoding
-- variable table
drop table if exists var;
create temp table var (	value varchar(1000) );
insert into var(value) select 'WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW';

-- select
with recursive
ints(num) as 
(
	select 1
	union all
	select num+1
	from ints
	where num+1 <= length((select value from var))
)
,
chars(num,chr,nextChr,isGroupEnd) as
(
	select tmp.*, case when tmp.nextChr <> tmp.chr then 1 else 0 end groupEnds
	from (
	select num, 
		   substring((select value from var), num, 1) chr,
		   (select substring((select value from var), num+1, 1)) nextChr
	from ints
	) tmp
)
select (select value from var) plain_text, (
	select string_agg(concat(cast(maxNoWithinGroup as varchar(10)) , chr), '' order by num)
	from (
		select *, max(noWithinGroup) over (partition by chr, groupNo) maxNoWithinGroup
		from (
			select	num, 
					chr, 
					groupNo, 
					row_number() over( partition by chr, groupNo order by num) noWithinGroup
			from (
			select *, (select count(*) 
					   from chars chars2 
					   where chars2.isGroupEnd = 1 and 
					   chars2.chr = chars.chr and 
					   chars2.num < chars.num) groupNo 
			from chars
			) tmp
		) sub
	) final
	where noWithinGroup = 1
	) Rle_Compressed
  • RLE decoding
-- variable table
DROP TABLE IF EXISTS var;
CREATE temp TABLE var (	VALUE VARCHAR(1000) );
INSERT INTO var(VALUE) SELECT '1A2B3C4D5E6F';

-- select
WITH recursive
ints(num) AS 
(
	SELECT 1
	UNION ALL
	SELECT num+1
	FROM ints
	WHERE num+1 <= LENGTH((SELECT VALUE FROM var))
)
,
chars(num,chr,nextChr) AS
(
	SELECT tmp.*
	FROM (
	SELECT num, 
		SUBSTRING((SELECT VALUE FROM var), num, 1) chr,
		(SELECT SUBSTRING((SELECT VALUE FROM var), num+1, 1)) nextChr
	FROM ints
	) tmp
)
,
charsWithGroup(num,chr,nextChr,group_no) AS
(
	SELECT *,(SELECT COUNT(*) 
		FROM chars chars2 
		WHERE chars2.chr !~ '[0-9]' AND 
		chars2.num < chars.num) group_No
	FROM chars
)
,
charsWithGroupAndLetter(num,chr,nextChr,group_no,group_letter) AS
(
	SELECT *,(SELECT chr 
		FROM charsWithGroup g2 
		where g2.group_no = charsWithGroup.group_no 
		ORDER BY num DESC 
		LIMIT 1)
	FROM charsWithGroup
)
,
lettersWithCount(group_no,amount,group_letter) AS
(
	SELECT group_no, string_agg(chr, '' ORDER BY num), group_letter
	FROM charsWithGroupAndLetter
	WHERE chr ~ '[0-9]'
	GROUP BY group_no, group_letter
)
,
lettersReplicated(group_no,amount,group_letter, replicated_Letter) AS
(
	SELECT *, rpad(group_letter, cast(amount as int), group_letter) 
	FROM lettersWithCount
)
select (SELECT value FROM var) rle_encoded, 
	string_agg(replicated_Letter, '' ORDER BY group_no) decoded_string 
FROM lettersReplicated

Standard ML

fun encode str =
  let
    fun aux (sub, acc) =
      case Substring.getc sub
       of NONE           => rev acc
        | SOME (x, sub') =>
            let
              val (y, z) = Substring.splitl (fn c => c = x) sub'
            in
              aux (z, (x, Substring.size y + 1) :: acc)
            end
  in
    aux (Substring.full str, [])
  end

fun decode lst =
  concat (map (fn (c,n) => implode (List.tabulate (n, fn _ => c))) lst)

Example:

- encode "aaaaahhhhhhmmmmmmmuiiiiiiiaaaaaa";
val it = [(#"a",5),(#"h",6),(#"m",7),(#"u",1),(#"i",7),(#"a",6)]
  : (char * int) list
- decode [(#"a",5),(#"h",6),(#"m",7),(#"u",1),(#"i",7),(#"a",6)];
val it = "aaaaahhhhhhmmmmmmmuiiiiiiiaaaaaa" : string

Swift

Using array as the internal representation of the encoded input:

import Foundation

// "WWWBWW" -> [(3, W), (1, B), (2, W)]
func encode(input: String) -> [(Int, Character)] {
    return input.characters.reduce([(Int, Character)]()) {
        if $0.last?.1 == $1 { var r = $0; r[r.count - 1].0++; return r }
        return $0 + [(1, $1)]
    }
}

// [(3, W), (1, B), (2, W)] -> "WWWBWW"
func decode(encoded: [(Int, Character)]) -> String {
    return encoded.reduce("") { $0 + String(count: $1.0, repeatedValue: $1.1) }
}

Usage:

let input = "WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW"
let output = decode(encode(input))
print(output == input)
Output:
true

Converting encoded array into the string and then decoding it using NSScanner:

// "3W1B2W" -> "WWWBWW"
func decode(encoded: String) -> String {
    let scanner = NSScanner(string: encoded)
    var char: NSString? = nil
    var count: Int = 0
    var out = ""

    while scanner.scanInteger(&count) {
        while scanner.scanCharactersFromSet(NSCharacterSet.letterCharacterSet(), intoString: &char) {
            out += String(count: count, repeatedValue: Character(char as! String))
        }
    }

    return out
}
let encodedString = encode(input).reduce("") { $0 + "\($1.0)\($1.1)" }
print(encodedString)
let outputString = decode(encodedString)
print(outputString == input)
Output:
12W1B12W3B24W1B14W
true

Tcl

The encoding is an even-length list with elements {count char ...}

proc encode {string} {
    set encoding {}
    # use a regular expression to match runs of one character
    foreach {run -} [regexp -all -inline {(.)\1+|.} $string] {
        lappend encoding [string length $run] [string index $run 0]
    }
    return $encoding
}

proc decode {encoding} {
    foreach {count char} $encoding  {
        append decoded [string repeat $char $count]
    }
    return $decoded
}
set str "WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW"
set enc [encode $str] ;# ==> {12 W 1 B 12 W 3 B 24 W 1 B 14 W}
set dec [decode $enc]
if {$str eq $dec} {
    puts "success"
}

TMG

Unix TMG is designed to process and generate files rather than process text in memory. Therefore encoding and decoding parts can be done in separate programs.

Encoding:

loop:   ordcop [lch?]\loop;
ordcop: ord/copy;
ord:    char(ch)/last [ch!=lch?]\new [cnt++] fail;
new:    ( [lch?] parse(out) | () ) [lch=ch] [cnt=1] fail;
out:    decimal(cnt) scopy = { 2 1 };
last:   parse(out) [lch=0];
copy:   smark any(!<<>>);
 
ch:     0;
lch:    0;
cnt:    0;

Decoding:

loop:   readint(n) copy\loop;
copy:   smark any(!<<>>)
repeat: [n?] parse(( scopy )) [--n>0?]\repeat;
 
/* Reads decimal integer */
readint:  proc(n;i) ignore(<<>>) [n=0] inta
int1:     [n = n*12+i] inta\int1;
inta:     char(i) [i<72?] [(i =- 60)>=0?];
 
i: 0;
n: 0;

TSE SAL

STRING PROC FNStringGetDecodeStringCharacterEqualCountS( STRING inS )
 STRING s1[255] = ""
 STRING s2[255] = ""
 STRING s3[255] = ""
 STRING s4[255] = ""
 INTEGER I = 0
 INTEGER J = 0
 INTEGER K = 0
 INTEGER L = 0
 K = Length( inS )
 I = 1 - 1
 REPEAT
  J = 1 - 1
  s3 = ""
  REPEAT
   I = I + 1
   J = J + 1
   s1 = SubStr( inS, I, 1 )
   s3 = s3 + s1
   s4 = SubStr( inS, I + 1, 1 )
  UNTIL ( NOT ( s4 IN '0'..'9' ) )
  FOR L = 1 TO Val( s3 )
   s2 = s2 + s4
  ENDFOR
  I = I + 1
 UNTIL ( I >= ( K - 1 ) )
 RETURN( s2 )
END
//
STRING PROC FNStringGetEncodeStringCharacterEqualCountS( STRING inS )
 STRING s1[255] = ""
 STRING s2[255] = ""
 INTEGER I = 0
 INTEGER J = 0
 INTEGER K = 0
 K = Length( inS )
 I = 1 - 1
 REPEAT
  J = 1 - 1
  REPEAT
   I = I + 1
   J = J + 1
   s1 = SubStr( inS, I, 1 )
  UNTIL ( NOT ( SubStr( inS, I + 1, 1 ) == s1 ) )
  s2 = s2 + Str( J ) + s1
 UNTIL ( I >= ( K - 1 ) )
 RETURN( s2 )
END
//
STRING PROC FNStringGetEncodeDecodeStringCharacterEqualCountS( STRING inS )
 STRING s1[255] = FNStringGetEncodeStringCharacterEqualCountS( inS )
 STRING s2[255] = FNStringGetDecodeStringCharacterEqualCountS( s1 )
 RETURN( s2 )
END
//
PROC Main()
 STRING s1[255] = "WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW"
 STRING s2[255] = ""
 IF ( NOT ( Ask( "string: get: encode: decode: string: character: equal: count: inS  = ", s1, _EDIT_HISTORY_ ) ) AND ( Length( s1 ) > 0 ) ) RETURN() ENDIF
 s2 = FNStringGetEncodeDecodeStringCharacterEqualCountS( s1 )
 Warn( "equal strings if result is 1", ",", " ", "and the result is", ":", " ", s1 == s2 )
END

TUSCRIPT

$$ MODE TUSCRIPT,{}
input="WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW",output=""
string=strings(input," ? ")
letter=ACCUMULATE(string,freq)
freq=SPLIT(freq),letter=SPLIT(letter)
output=JOIN(freq,"",letter)
output=JOIN(output,"")
PRINT input
PRINT output

Output:

WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
12W1B12W3B24W1B14W

UNIX Shell

Works with: bash
encode() {
    local phrase=$1
    [[ -z $phrase ]] && return
    local result="" count=0 char=${phrase:0:1}
    for ((i = 0; i < ${#phrase}; i++)); do
        if [[ ${phrase:i:1} == "$char" ]]; then
            ((count++))
        else
            result+="$(encode_sequence "$count" "$char")"
            char=${phrase:i:1}
            count=1
        fi
    done
    result+="$(encode_sequence "$count" "$char")"
    echo "$result"
}

encode_sequence() {
    local count=$1 char=$2
    ((count == 1)) && count=""
    echo "${count}${char}"
}

decode() {
    local phrase=$1
    local result=""
    local count char

    while [[ $phrase =~ ([[:digit:]]+)([^[:digit:]]) ]]; do
        printf -v phrase "%s%s%s" \
            "${phrase%%${BASH_REMATCH[0]}*}" \
            "$(repeat "${BASH_REMATCH[1]}" "${BASH_REMATCH[2]}")" \
            "${phrase#*${BASH_REMATCH[0]}}"
    done
    echo "$phrase"
}

repeat() {
    local count=$1 char=$2
    local result
    # string of count spaces
    printf -v result "%*s" "$count" ""
    # replace spaces with the char
    echo "${result// /$char}"
}

Demo

str="WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW"
enc=$(encode "$str")
dec=$(decode "$enc")
declare -p str enc dec
[[ $str == "$dec" ]] && echo success || echo failure

Output

declare -- str="WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW"
declare -- enc="12WB12W3B24WB14W"
declare -- dec="WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW"
success

Ursala

A standard library function, rlc, does most of the work for this task, which is a second order function taking a binary predicate that decides when consecutive items of an input list belong to the same run.

#import std
#import nat

encode = (rlc ==); *= ^lhPrNCT\~&h %nP+ length

decode = (rlc ~&l-=digits); *=zyNCXS ^|DlS/~& iota+ %np

test_data = 'WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW'

#show+

example = 

<
   encode test_data,
   decode encode test_data>

The output shows an encoding of the test data, and a decoding of the encoding, which matches the original test data.

12W1B12W3B24W1B14W
WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

VBA

Option Explicit

Sub Main()
Dim p As String
   p = length_encoding("WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW")
   Debug.Print p
   Debug.Print length_decoding(p)
End Sub

Private Function length_encoding(S As String) As String
Dim F As String, r As String, a As String, n As Long, c As Long, k As Long
   r = Left(S, 1)
   c = 1
   For n = 2 To Len(S)
      If r <> Mid(S, n, 1) Then
         a = a & c & r
         r = Mid(S, n, 1)
         c = 1
      Else
         c = c + 1
      End If
   Next
   length_encoding = a & c & r
End Function

Private Function length_decoding(S As String) As String
Dim F As Long, r As String, a As String
   For F = 1 To Len(S)
      If IsNumeric(Mid(S, F, 1)) Then
         r = r & Mid(S, F, 1)
      Else
         a = a & String(CLng(r), Mid(S, F, 1))
         r = vbNullString
      End If
   Next
   length_decoding = a
End Function
Output:
12W1B12W3B24W1B14W
WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

Vedit macro language

The following example encodes/decodes an entire file. Each run is coded with two bytes. The first byte is the run length with high bit set, the second byte is the character code. ASCII characters with run length of 1 are left unchanged. Character codes above 127 are always coded with run length. Newlines are not converted (the regular expression does not count newlines). This methods supports any type of input.

:RL_ENCODE:
BOF
While (!At_EOF) {
    if (At_EOL) { Line(1) Continue }    // skip newlines
    #1 = Cur_Char                       // #1 = character
    Match("(.)\1*", REGEXP)             // count run length
    #2 = Chars_Matched                  // #2 = run length
    if (#2 > 127) { #2 = 127 }          // can be max 127
    if (#2 > 1 || #1 > 127) {
        Del_Char(#2)
        Ins_Char(#2 | 128)              // run length (high bit set)
        Ins_Char(#1)                    // character
    } else {                            // single ASCII char
        Char                            // skip
    }
}
Return

:RL_DECODE:
BOF
While (!At_EOF) {
    #2 = Cur_Char
    if (#2 > 127) {                     // is this run length?
        #1 = Cur_Char(1)                // #1 = character value
        Del_Char(2)
        Ins_Char(#1, COUNT, #2 & 127)
    } else {                            // single ASCII char
        Char
    }
}
Return

V (Vlang)

const test = "WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW"

fn main() {
	encoded := encode(test)
	println(encoded)
	println(decode(encoded))
}

fn encode(data string) string {
	mut encode :=""
	mut temp := []u8{}
	for key, value in data {
		if key > 1 && value != data[key - 1] {
			encode += temp.len.str() + temp[0].ascii_str()
			temp.clear()
		}
		temp << value
	}
	encode += temp.len.str() + temp[0].ascii_str()
	temp.clear()
	return encode
}

fn decode(data string) string {
	mut decode :=""
	mut temp := []u8{}
	for value in data {
		if value.is_digit() == false {
			decode += value.repeat(temp.bytestr().int())
			temp.clear()
		}
		else {temp << value}
	}
	return decode
}
Output:
12W1B12W3B24W1B14W
WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

Wren

Library: Wren-pattern
import "./pattern" for Pattern

var p = Pattern.new("/u") // match any upper case letter

var encode = Fn.new { |s|
    if (s == "") return s
    var e = ""
    var curr = s[0]
    var count = 1
    var i = 1
    while (i < s.count) {
        if (s[i] == curr) {
            count = count + 1
        } else {
            e = e + count.toString + curr
            curr = s[i]
            count = 1
        }
        i = i + 1
    }
    return e + count.toString + curr
}

var decode = Fn.new { |e|
    if (e == "") return e
    var letters = Pattern.matchesText(p.findAll(e))
    var numbers = p.splitAll(e)[0..-2].map { |s| Num.fromString(s) }.toList
    return (0...letters.count).reduce("") { |acc, i| acc + letters[i]*numbers[i] }.join()
}

var strings = [
   "AA",
   "RROSETTAA",
   "WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW"
]

for (s in strings) {
    System.print("Original text      : %(s)")
    var e = encode.call(s)
    System.print("Encoded text       : %(e)")
    var d = decode.call(e)
    System.print("Decoded text       : %(d)")
    System.print("Original = decoded : %(s == d)\n")
}
Output:
Original text      : AA
Encoded text       : 2A
Decoded text       : AA
Original = decoded : true

Original text      : RROSETTAA
Encoded text       : 2R1O1S1E2T2A
Decoded text       : RROSETTAA
Original = decoded : true

Original text      : WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
Encoded text       : 12W1B12W3B24W1B14W
Decoded text       : WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
Original = decoded : true

XPL0

include c:\cxpl\codes;  \intrinsic 'code' declarations
string 0;               \use zero-terminated strings, instead of MSb terminated

proc Compress(S);       \Compress string using run-length encoding, & display it
char S;
int  I, C0, C, N;
[I:= 0;
C0:= S(I);  I:= I+1;
repeat  ChOut(0, C0);
        N:= 0;
        repeat  C:= S(I);  I:= I+1;
                N:= N+1;
        until   C#C0;
        if N>1 then IntOut(0, N-1);
        C0:= C;
until   C=0;
]; \Compress

proc Expand(S);         \Expand compressed string, and display it
char S;
int  I, C0, C, N;
[I:= 0;
C0:= S(I);  I:= I+1;
repeat  ChOut(0, C0);
        C:= S(I);  I:= I+1;
        if C>=^1 & C<=^9 then
                [N:= 0;
                while C>=^0 & C<=^9 do
                        [N:= N*10 + C-^0;
                        C:= S(I);  I:= I+1;
                        ];
                while N do [ChOut(0, C0);  N:= N-1];
                ];
        C0:= C;
until   C=0;
]; \Expand

[Compress("WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW");
CrLf(0);
Expand("W11BW11B2W23BW13");  CrLf(0);
]

Output (with slightly better compression than the example):

W11BW11B2W23BW13
WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

Zig

const std = @import("std");

fn Run(comptime T: type) type {
    return struct {
        value: T,
        length: usize,
    };
}

fn encode(
    comptime T: type,
    input: []const T,
    allocator: std.mem.Allocator,
) ![]Run(T) {
    var runs = std.ArrayList(Run(T)).init(allocator);
    defer runs.deinit();

    var previous: ?T = null;
    var length: usize = 0;

    for (input) |current| {
        if (previous == current) {
            length += 1;
        } else if (previous) |value| {
            try runs.append(.{
                .value = value,
                .length = length,
            });
            previous = current;
            length = 1;
        } else {
            previous = current;
            length += 1;
        }
    }

    if (previous) |value| {
        try runs.append(.{
            .value = value,
            .length = length,
        });
    }

    return runs.toOwnedSlice();
}

test encode {
    const input =
        "WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW";

    const expected = [_]Run(u8){
        .{ .length = 12, .value = 'W' },
        .{ .length = 1, .value = 'B' },
        .{ .length = 12, .value = 'W' },
        .{ .length = 3, .value = 'B' },
        .{ .length = 24, .value = 'W' },
        .{ .length = 1, .value = 'B' },
        .{ .length = 14, .value = 'W' },
    };

    const allocator = std.testing.allocator;
    const actual = try encode(u8, input, allocator);
    defer allocator.free(actual);

    try std.testing.expectEqual(expected.len, actual.len);
    for (expected, actual) |e, a| {
        try std.testing.expectEqual(e.length, a.length);
        try std.testing.expectEqual(e.value, a.value);
    }
}

fn decode(
    comptime T: type,
    runs: []const Run(T),
    allocator: std.mem.Allocator,
) ![]T {
    var values = std.ArrayList(T).init(allocator);
    defer values.deinit();
    for (runs) |r|
        try values.appendNTimes(r.value, r.length);
    return values.toOwnedSlice();
}

test decode {
    const runs = [_]Run(u8){
        .{ .length = 12, .value = 'W' },
        .{ .length = 1, .value = 'B' },
        .{ .length = 12, .value = 'W' },
        .{ .length = 3, .value = 'B' },
        .{ .length = 24, .value = 'W' },
        .{ .length = 1, .value = 'B' },
        .{ .length = 14, .value = 'W' },
    };

    const allocator = std.testing.allocator;
    const decoded = try decode(u8, &runs, allocator);
    defer allocator.free(decoded);

    try std.testing.expectEqualStrings(
        "WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW",
        decoded,
    );
}

pub fn main() !void {
    var gpa = std.heap.GeneralPurposeAllocator(.{}){};
    defer std.debug.assert(gpa.deinit() == .ok);

    const allocator = gpa.allocator();
    var input = std.ArrayList(u8).init(allocator);
    defer input.deinit();

    const stdout = std.io.getStdOut().writer();
    const stdin = std.io.getStdIn().reader();
    try stdout.print("Input: ", .{});
    try stdin.streamUntilDelimiter(input.writer(), '\n', null);

    const runs = try encode(u8, input.items, allocator);
    defer allocator.free(runs);

    try stdout.print("Encoded:\n", .{});
    for (runs) |r|
        try stdout.print("  {}\n", .{r});

    const decoded = try decode(u8, runs, allocator);
    defer allocator.free(decoded);

    try stdout.print("Decoded: {s}\n", .{decoded});
}
Output:
Input: WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
Encoded:
  run_length_encoding.Run(u8){ .value = 87, .length = 12 }
  run_length_encoding.Run(u8){ .value = 66, .length = 1 }
  run_length_encoding.Run(u8){ .value = 87, .length = 12 }
  run_length_encoding.Run(u8){ .value = 66, .length = 3 }
  run_length_encoding.Run(u8){ .value = 87, .length = 24 }
  run_length_encoding.Run(u8){ .value = 66, .length = 1 }
  run_length_encoding.Run(u8){ .value = 87, .length = 14 }
Decoded: WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

zkl

A byte stream to byte stream codec, the streams hard coded for ease. Character '\1' is used as a sentinel and there are limits on the run length to avoid byte overflow.

const MAX_LEN=250, MIN_LEN=3;
fcn compress(text){ // !empty byte/text stream -->Data (byte stream)
   sink:=Data(); cnt:=Ref(0);
   write:='wrap(c,n){ // helper function
      while(n>MAX_LEN){ 
         sink.write(1); sink.write(MAX_LEN); sink.write(c); 
	 n-=MAX_LEN;
      }
      if(n>MIN_LEN){ sink.write(1); sink.write(n); sink.write(c); }
      else { do(n) { sink.write(c); } }
   };
   text.reduce('wrap(a,b){
      if(a==b) cnt.inc();
      else{ write(a,cnt.value); cnt.set(1); }
      b
   },text[0]) : write(_,cnt.value);
   sink;
}
fcn inflate(data){  //-->String
   data.howza(3).pump(String,
      fcn(c){ // if c==1, read n,c2 and expand, else write c
         if(c=="\x01") return(Void.Read,2) else return(Void.Write,c) },
      fcn(_,n,c){ c*n.toAsc() })
}
text:="WWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWBBBWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWBWWWWWWWWWWWWWW";
d:=compress(text);
d.bytes().println();
println(text.len()," bytes --> ",d.len()," bytes");
println(text==inflate(d));
Output:
L(1,12,87,66,1,12,87,66,66,66,1,24,87,66,1,14,87)
67 bytes --> 17 bytes
True