diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index cdc0b1744ef..a376d5782fc 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -413,11 +413,6 @@
             <artifactId>commons-math</artifactId>
             <version>2.2</version>
         </dependency>
-        <dependency>
-            <groupId>commons-lang</groupId>
-            <artifactId>commons-lang</artifactId>
-            <version>2.6</version>
-        </dependency>
         <dependency> <!-- used by the compression uri feature-->
             <groupId>org.apache.commons</groupId>
             <artifactId>commons-compress</artifactId>
diff --git a/src/org/rascalmpl/library/Prelude.java b/src/org/rascalmpl/library/Prelude.java
index b3c38a356c8..a28ca8f0d79 100644
--- a/src/org/rascalmpl/library/Prelude.java
+++ b/src/org/rascalmpl/library/Prelude.java
@@ -72,7 +72,6 @@
 
 import org.apache.commons.codec.CodecPolicy;
 import org.apache.commons.codec.binary.Base32;
-import org.apache.commons.lang.CharSetUtils;
 import org.rascalmpl.debug.IRascalMonitor;
 import org.rascalmpl.exceptions.JavaCompilation;
 import org.rascalmpl.exceptions.RuntimeExceptionFactory;
@@ -3071,9 +3070,31 @@ public IString trim(IString s) {
 	}
 	
 	public IString squeeze(IString src, IString charSet) {
-		//@{http://commons.apache.org/lang/api-2.6/index.html?org/apache/commons/lang/text/package-summary.html}
-		String s = CharSetUtils.squeeze(src.getValue(), charSet.getValue());
-		return values.string(s);
+		if (charSet.getValue().isEmpty()) {
+			return src;
+		}
+		final Pattern isCharset = Pattern.compile("[" + charSet.getValue() + "]", Pattern.UNICODE_CHARACTER_CLASS);
+		StringBuilder result = new StringBuilder(src.length());
+		var chars = src.iterator();
+		int previousMatch = -1;
+		while (chars.hasNext()) {
+			int cp = chars.nextInt();
+			if (cp == previousMatch) {
+				// swallow
+				continue;
+			}
+
+			String c = Character.toString(cp);
+			if (isCharset.matcher(c).matches()) {
+				previousMatch = cp;
+				// swallow the next
+			}
+			else {
+				previousMatch = -1;
+			}
+			result.append(c);
+		}
+		return values.string(result.toString());
 	}
 	
 	public IString capitalize(IString src) {
diff --git a/src/org/rascalmpl/library/lang/rascal/tests/basic/Strings1.rsc b/src/org/rascalmpl/library/lang/rascal/tests/basic/Strings1.rsc
index 6f296a744e1..0a679380687 100644
--- a/src/org/rascalmpl/library/lang/rascal/tests/basic/Strings1.rsc
+++ b/src/org/rascalmpl/library/lang/rascal/tests/basic/Strings1.rsc
@@ -248,6 +248,23 @@ test bool tstSplit(str S1, str S2) = areOverlapping(S1,S2) || isEmpty(S1) || isE
 
 // squeeze
 
+test bool tstSqueeze1(str S) = /<c:[a-zA-Z]><c>/ !:= squeeze(S, "a-zA-Z");
+test bool tstSqueeze2(str S) = squeeze(S, "") == S;
+test bool tstSqueeze3(str S) {
+  if (/<c:[a-zA-Z]><c>/ := S) {
+    return /<c><c>/ := squeeze(S, "0-9");
+  }
+  return true;
+}
+
+test bool tstSqueezeUnicode() = squeeze("Hi 🍝🍝World", "🍝") == "Hi 🍝World";
+test bool tstSqueezeCase1() = squeeze("abc", "a-c") == "abc";
+test bool tstSqueezeCase2() = squeeze("aabc", "a-c") == "abc";
+test bool tstSqueezeCase3() = squeeze("aabcc", "a-c") == "abc";
+test bool tstSqueezeCase4() = squeeze("aabbcc", "a-c") == "abc";
+test bool tstSqueezeCase5() = squeeze("aaabc", "a-c") == "abc";
+
+
 test bool tstStartsWith(str S1, str S2) = startsWith(S1+S2, S1);
 
 test bool tstSubstring1(str S){