&rep(4)

NAME

&rep, &irep, &xrep, &xirep - Replace string in string functions

SYNOPSIS

&rep str1 str2 str3
&irep str1 str2 str3
&xrep str1 str2 str3
&xirep str1 str2 str3

DESCRIPTION

These functions search for str2 in str1, replacing it with str3, returning the resultant string.

The functions may all be abbreviated to their three letter abbreviation (i.e. &xirep may be expressed as &xir). In all cases the first argument is completely evaluated before the second and third arguments.

&rep string search replace


Searches for the search string in the given string using a simple case sensitive exact match algorithm. Any occurrences are removed from string and replace is inserted in its place. Either of the 3 input strings can be the empty string ("").

&irep string search replace


&irep is identical to &rep except a case insensitive search algorithm is used.

&xrep string regex-search regex-replace


&xrep can be used to access the more powerful regular expression searching capabilities. The function is similar to &rep except it takes a regex search string and the replacement string may also refer to all or part of the matched string. See Regular Expressions for information on the regex format.

&xirep string regex-search regex-replace


&xirep is identical to &xrep except a case insensitive regex search is used.

EXAMPLE

The following example turns a UNIX format file name (using a '/' to divide directories - like MicroEmacs) into an windows format name (using a '\'):

set-variable #l0 &rep #l0 "/" "\\" 

The following example replaces one or more white spaces in the variable with a single space, this is an easy way to remove unnecessary spaces:

set-variable #l0 "This   is   not   so    spacey    after   xrep" 
set-variable #l0 &xrep #l0 "\\s +" " " 
ml-write #l0 

SEE ALSO

Operating Modes, Variable Functions, &sequal(4), &sin(4).

Ref: &rep(4) File: m4fil000.4 Date: 2022/06/12

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