Home Contents | # string.gsub | String | Lua Commands

## SYNOPSIS

string.gsub(s,pattern,repl[,n])

## DESCRIPTION

Returns a copy of s in which all (or the first n, if given) occurrences of the pattern have been replaced by a replacement string specified by repl, which can be a string, a table, or a function. gsub also returns, as its second value, the total number of matches that occurred.

If repl is a string, then its value is used for replacement. The character % works as an escape character: any sequence in repl of the form %n, with n between 1 and 9, stands for the value of the n-th captured substring (see below). The sequence %0 stands for the whole match. The sequence %% stands for a single %.

If repl is a table, then the table is queried for every match, using the first capture as the key; if the pattern specifies no captures, then the whole match is used as the key.

If repl is a function, then this function is called every time a match occurs, with all captured substrings passed as arguments, in order; if the pattern specifies no captures, then the whole match is passed as a sole argument.

If the value returned by the table query or by the function call is a string or a number, then it is used as the replacement string; otherwise, if it is false or nil, then there is no replacement (that is, the original match is kept in the string).

## RETURN VALUE

Returns a string.

## EXAMPLE

>
print(string.gsub("hello world", "(%w+)", "%1 %1"))
hello hello world world
>
print(string.gsub("hello world", "%w+", "%0 %0", 1))
hello hello world
>
print(string.gsub("hello world from Lua", "(%w+)%s*(%w+)", "%2 %1"))
world hello Lua from
>
print(string.gsub("home = $HOME, user = $USER", "%$(%w+)", os.getenv))
home = /home/roberto, user = roberto
>
print(string.gsub("4+5 = $return 4+5$", "%$(.-)%$", function (s))
>
return loadstring(s)()
>
end)
4+5 = 9"
>
local t = {name="lua", version="5.1"}
>
x = string.gsub("$name-$version.tar.gz", "%$(%w+)", t)
lua-5.1.tar.gz