Regex replace

Description

The Regex replace plugin replaces all occurrences of a regular expression.

This plugin is a replace transformer plugin. This means that if the regular expression does not match the input value, it will be replaced with an empty string, i.e. deleted.

Notes on regular expressions

The most commonly used examples of regular expressions are "\\s*" for representing whitespace characters, [^0-9]* for numbers, and [a-z]* for the usual English characters between a and z. The star (*) represents an arbitrary number of occurrences (zero included), whereas the plus sign (+) indicates a strictly positive number of occurrences (zero excluded).

An uppercase version of the predefined character classes means negation, such as "\\S*" for non-whitespace characters, or "\\D*" for non-digits. Similarly, the hat sign ^ can be used for negating (arbitrary) character classes, such as [^xyz] for any character except x, y or z.

Attention: Slashes in regular expressions have to be escaped, e.g. instead of \s we need to escape it as \\s.

Note for advanced users

A compilation of the available constructs for building regular expressions is available in the API of the Java Pattern.

Examples

Notation: List of values are represented via square brackets. Example: [first, second] represents a list of two values “first” and “second”.

---

Removes all digits by replacing them with an empty string:

• Parameters

  • regex: [^0-9]*

• Input values:

  1. [a0b1c2]

• Returns: [012]

---

Removes all letters by replacing them with an empty string:

• Parameters

  • regex: [a-z]*

• Input values:

  1. [abcdef1]

• Returns: [1]

---

Removes all vowels by replacing them with an empty string:

• Parameters

  • regex: [aeyiuoAEYIUO]*

• Input values:

  1. [Dwalin, Balin, Kili, Fili, Dori, Nori, Ori, Oin, Gloin, Bifur, Bofur, Bombur, Thorin]

• Returns: [Dwln, Bln, Kl, Fl, Dr, Nr, r, n, Gln, Bfr, Bfr, Bmbr, Thrn]

---

Removes all consonants by replacing them with an empty string:

• Parameters

  • regex: [^aeyiuoAEYIUO]*

• Input values:

  1. [Dwalin, Balin, Kili, Fili, Dori, Nori, Ori, Oin, Gloin, Bifur, Bofur, Bombur, Thorin]

• Returns: [ai, ai, ii, ii, oi, oi, Oi, Oi, oi, iu, ou, ou, oi]

---

Replaces all vowels with a common vowel:

• Parameters

  • regex: [aeyiuoAEYIUO]{1}
  • replace: a

• Input values:

  1. [Dwalin, Balin, Kili, Fili, Dori, Nori, Ori, Oin, Gloin, Bifur, Bofur, Bombur, Thorin]

• Returns: [Dwalan, Balan, Kala, Fala, Dara, Nara, ara, aan, Glaan, Bafar, Bafar, Bambar, Tharan]

---

Replaces all vowels with a common double vowel:

• Parameters

  • regex: [aeyiuoAEYIUO]{1}
  • replace: aa

• Input values:

  1. [Dwalin, Balin, Kili, Fili, Dori, Nori, Ori, Oin, Gloin, Bifur, Bofur, Bombur, Thorin]

• Returns: [Dwaalaan, Baalaan, Kaalaa, Faalaa, Daaraa, Naaraa, aaraa, aaaan, Glaaaan, Baafaar, Baafaar, Baambaar, Thaaraan]

Parameter

Regex

The regular expression to match

• ID: regex
• Datatype: string
• Default Value: None

Replace

The replacement of each match

• ID: replace
• Datatype: string
• Default Value: None

Advanced Parameter

None

Related Plugins

• regexExtract — The Regex replace plugin returns the full input string after rewriting every match with the replacement. The Regex extract plugin returns only what matched, or the first capturing group, so the output is match-derived content rather than a rewritten string.
• regexSelect — The Regex replace plugin rewrites a string by substituting every match with the configured replacement, so the output stays a transformed version of the input text. The Regex selection plugin turns matching into positional markers by emitting a provided output value at the regex positions that match the checked value.
• validateRegex — The Regex replace plugin rewrites a string by substituting every regex match and returns the rewritten value. The Validate regex plugin keeps the value only when the full value matches the regex and otherwise fails validation, so it serves as a format check before or after rewriting.
• replace — The Replace plugin swaps one fixed substring for another everywhere it occurs. The Regex replace plugin does the same global substitution, but what counts as a hit is described by a regular expression.

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