Replace first matching regex/literal substring with a new string value

Source code

Description

Replace first matching regex/literal substring with a new string value

Usage

<Expr>$str$replace(pattern, value, ..., literal = FALSE, n = 1L)

Arguments

pattern	A character or something can be coerced to a string Expr of a valid regex pattern, compatible with the regex crate.
value	A character or an Expr of string that will replace the matched substring.
…	Ignored.
literal	Logical. If TRUE (default), treat pattern as a literal string, not as a regular expression.
n	A number of matches to replace. Note that regex replacement with n \> 1 not yet supported, so raise an error if n \> 1 and pattern includes regex pattern and literal = FALSE.

Details

To modify regular expression behaviour (such as case-sensitivity) with flags, use the inline (?iLmsuxU) syntax. See the regex crate’s section on grouping and flags for additional information about the use of inline expression modifiers.

Value

Expr of String type

Capture groups

The dollar sign ($) is a special character related to capture groups. To refer to a literal dollar sign, use $$ instead or set literal to TRUE.

See Also

• \$str$replace_all()

Examples

library(polars)

df = pl$DataFrame(id = 1L:2L, text = c("123abc", "abc456"))
df$with_columns(pl$col("text")$str$replace(r"(abc\b)", "ABC"))

#> shape: (2, 2)
#> ┌─────┬────────┐
#> │ id  ┆ text   │
#> │ --- ┆ ---    │
#> │ i32 ┆ str    │
#> ╞═════╪════════╡
#> │ 1   ┆ 123ABC │
#> │ 2   ┆ abc456 │
#> └─────┴────────┘

# Capture groups are supported.
# Use `${1}` in the value string to refer to the first capture group in the pattern,
# `${2}` to refer to the second capture group, and so on.
# You can also use named capture groups.
df = pl$DataFrame(word = c("hat", "hut"))
df$with_columns(
  positional = pl$col("word")$str$replace("h(.)t", "b${1}d"),
  named = pl$col("word")$str$replace("h(?<vowel>.)t", "b${vowel}d")
)

#> shape: (2, 3)
#> ┌──────┬────────────┬───────┐
#> │ word ┆ positional ┆ named │
#> │ ---  ┆ ---        ┆ ---   │
#> │ str  ┆ str        ┆ str   │
#> ╞══════╪════════════╪═══════╡
#> │ hat  ┆ bad        ┆ bad   │
#> │ hut  ┆ bud        ┆ bud   │
#> └──────┴────────────┴───────┘

# Apply case-insensitive string replacement using the `(?i)` flag.
df = pl$DataFrame(
  city = "Philadelphia",
  season = c("Spring", "Summer", "Autumn", "Winter"),
  weather = c("Rainy", "Sunny", "Cloudy", "Snowy")
)
df$with_columns(
  pl$col("weather")$str$replace("(?i)foggy|rainy|cloudy|snowy", "Sunny")
)

#> shape: (4, 3)
#> ┌──────────────┬────────┬─────────┐
#> │ city         ┆ season ┆ weather │
#> │ ---          ┆ ---    ┆ ---     │
#> │ str          ┆ str    ┆ str     │
#> ╞══════════════╪════════╪═════════╡
#> │ Philadelphia ┆ Spring ┆ Sunny   │
#> │ Philadelphia ┆ Summer ┆ Sunny   │
#> │ Philadelphia ┆ Autumn ┆ Sunny   │
#> │ Philadelphia ┆ Winter ┆ Sunny   │
#> └──────────────┴────────┴─────────┘