replace

Type

command

Summary

Replaces text in a container with other text.

Syntax

replace <oldString> with <newString> in <container>

Description

Use the replace command to replace all instances of one string with another string.

note

The replace command is not recursive and behaves in much the same way a text editor would perform a plain text search, looking at each character in the text once only. This means that if there are two overlapping instances of matching text, only the first will be replaced. For example:

    put \"x:y:y:y:y:x:\" into tChangeMe
    replace \":y:\" with \"::\" in tChangeMe
    put tChangeMe -- returns x::y::y:x

If the goal were to remove every lone y within two colons that appears in the text, it would be more effective to take advantage of how the text to remove is contained within two identical characters, along with the itemDelimiter property, such as in the following:

    put \"x:y:y:y:y:x\" into tChangeMe
    set the itemDelimiter to \":\"
    repeat with tCount = 2 to (the number of items in tChangeMe) - 1
        if item tCount of tChangeMe is \"y\" then 
            put empty into item tCount of tChangeMe
        end if
    end repeat
    put tChangeMe -- returns x:::::x

Important

You can use the replace command on a field, but doing so removes any formatting (fonts, styles, colors, and sizes) in the field. To preserve existing styling in fields use the replace in field command.

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
oldString	string	Any expression that evaluates to a string, and specifies the text to replace.
newString	string	Any expression that evaluates to a string, and specifies the text to replace the oldString with.
container		A field, button, or variable, or the message box.

Examples

replace "A" with "N" in thisVariable -- changes all As to Ns

replace return with empty in field 1 -- runs lines together

replace somethingOld with "\" in it

replace ".com" with somethingNew in URL "file:stuff.txt"

put "12.34.56.78" into p
replace "." with empty in char 4 to -1 of p  -- 12.345678

Related

object: field

property: itemDelimiter

command: find, filter, replace, replace in field

control structure: function

function: replaceText

glossary: command, regex pattern, container, property

keyword: string, field

Compatibility and Support

Introduced

LiveCode 1.0

OS

mac

windows

linux

ios

android

Platforms

desktop

server

mobile