Function Reference > Functions > REPLACESTR

REPLACESTR

Replaces characters in a string with a single character, multiple characters, or no character. REPLACESTR searches the input string for all strings you specify and replaces them with the new string you specify.

Syntax

REPLACESTR ( CaseFlag, InputString, OldString1, [OldString2, ... OldStringN,] NewString )

Argument	Required/ Optional	Description
CaseFlag	Required	Must be an integer. Determines whether the arguments in this function are case sensitive. You can enter any valid expression. When CaseFlag is a number other than 0, the function is case sensitive. When CaseFlag is a null value or 0, the function is not case sensitive.
InputString	Required	Must be a character string. Passes the strings you want to search. You can enter any valid expression. If you pass a numeric value, the function converts it to a character string. If InputString is NULL, REPLACESTR returns NULL.
OldString	Required	Must be a character string. The string you want to replace. You must enter at least one OldString argument. You can enter one or more characters per OldString argument. You can enter any valid expression. You can also enter a text literal enclosed within single quotation marks, for example, 'abc'. If you pass a numeric value, the function converts it to a character string. When REPLACESTR contains multiple OldString arguments, and one or more OldString arguments is NULL or empty, REPLACESTR ignores the OldString argument. When all OldString arguments are NULL or empty, REPLACESTR returns InputString. The function replaces the characters in the OldString arguments in the order they appear in the function. For example, if you enter multiple OldString arguments, the first OldString argument has precedence over the second OldString argument, and the second OldString argument has precedence over the third OldString argument. When REPLACESTR replaces a string, it places the cursor after the replaced characters in InputString before searching for the next match. For more information, see the examples.
NewString	Required	Must be a character string. You can enter one character, multiple characters, an empty string, or NULL. You can enter any valid expression. If NewString is NULL or empty, REPLACESTR removes all occurrences of OldString in InputString.

Return Value

String.

Empty string if REPLACESTR removes all characters in InputString.

NULL if InputString is NULL.

InputString if all OldString arguments are NULL or empty.

Example

The following expression removes double quotation marks and two different text strings from web log data for each row in the WEBLOG column:

REPLACESTR( 1, WEBLOG, '"', 'GET ', ' HTTP/1.1', NULL )

WEBLOG	RETURN VALUE
"GET /news/index.html HTTP/1.1"	/news/index.html
"GET /companyinfo/index.html HTTP/1.1"	/companyinfo/index.html
GET /companyinfo/index.html	/companyinfo/index.html
GET	[empty string]
NULL	NULL

The following expression changes the title for certain values for each row in the TITLE column:

REPLACESTR ( 1, TITLE, 'rs.', 'iss', 's.' )

TITLE	RETURN VALUE
Mrs.	Ms.
Miss	Ms.
Mr.	Mr.
MRS.	MRS.

The following expression changes the title for certain values for each row in the TITLE column:

REPLACESTR ( 0, TITLE, 'rs.', 'iss', 's.' )

TITLE	RETURN VALUE
Mrs.	Ms.
MRS.	Ms.

The following expression shows how the REPLACESTR function replaces multiple OldString arguments for each row in the INPUT column:

REPLACESTR ( 1, INPUT, 'ab', 'bc', '*' )

INPUT	RETURN VALUE
abc	*c
abbc	**
abbbbc	bb
bc	*

The following expression shows how the REPLACESTR function replaces multiple OldString arguments for each row in the INPUT column:

REPLACESTR ( 1, INPUT, 'ab', 'bc', 'b' )

INPUT	RETURN VALUE
ab	b
bc	b
abc	bc
abbc	bb
abbcc	bbc

When you want to use a single quotation mark (') in either OldString or NewString, you must use the CHR function. Use both the CHR and CONCAT functions to concatenate a single quotation mark onto a string. The single quotation mark is the only character that cannot be used inside a string literal. Consider the following example:

CONCAT( 'Joan', CONCAT( CHR(39), 's car' ))

The return value is:

Joan's car

The following expression changes a string that includes the single quotation mark, for each row in the INPUT column:

REPLACESTR ( 1, INPUT, CONCAT('it', CONCAT(CHR(39), 's' )), 'its' )

INPUT	RETURN VALUE
it's	its
mit's	mits
mits	mits
mits'	mits'