Can the `/` operator squash multiple slashes?

[acjay]

In cases where a base URI is provide with a slash, should the / operator not duplicate the slash? I can see the counterargument that right now, it very explicitly inserts a slash, always. I appreciate the consistency, but I'd suggest it might actually be "least surprise" to squash slashes adjacent to the / operator.

[philwill-nap]

http://example.com/fred and http://example.com//fred are both legal URIs identifying distinct resources; to coalesce adjacent / characters it would be incorrect.

[larioj]

Say we wanted the squashing behavior. What operator should we use?

[xkrt]

Additional squashing / operator will be very convenient