Module:StringReplace

This module is rated as ready for general use. It has reached a mature form and is thought to be relatively bug-free and ready for use wherever appropriate. It is ready to mention on help pages and other Wikipedia resources as an option for new users to learn. To reduce server load and bad output, it should be improved by sandbox testing rather than repeated trial-and-error editing.

Usage

{{#invoke:StringReplace|function_name}}

-- Module for different search and replace operations on strings.
local p = {}

-- Takes one string parameter, and returns the string with all characters with special meaning for Lua patterns escaped with a preceding `%`.
function p.escape_pattern(text)
    -- Replaces each occurrence of any of ().%+-*?[^$ with a `%` and then the character.
    local r = string.gsub(text, "[%(%)%.%%%+%-%*%?%[%^%$]", "%%%1")
    return r
end

-- Returns the first parameter, with all occurrences of the second parameter replaced with the third parameter.
-- All special characters are ignored: {{#invoke:StringReplace|replace_all|test.a%1$foo|%1|bar}} results in `test.abarfoo`.
function p.replace_all(frame)
    local str = frame.args[1]
    local strToFind = frame.args[2]
    local strToreplaceWith = frame.args[3]
    local r = string.gsub(str, p.escape_pattern(strToFind), p.escape_pattern(strToreplaceWith))
    return r
end

p['encode wiki page name'] = function( frame )
	local x = mw.ustring.gsub( 
		frame.args[1] or '', 
		'[\'"&_]', 
		{ 
			["'"] = '&#39;', 
			['"'] = '&#34;', 
			['&'] = '&#38;', 
			['_'] = ' ', 
		} 
	)
	return mw.text.trim( x )
end

return p