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}"
}