Name

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REPSTR

Purpose

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Replace all occurences of one substring by another.

Explanation

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Meant to emulate the string substitution capabilities of text editors
      For a more sophisticated routine that allows regular expressions look
      at MG_STRREPLACE()
      http://docs.idldev.com/idllib/strings/mg_streplace.html

Calling Sequence

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result = repstr( obj, in, out )

Input Parameters

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obj = object string for editing, scalar or array
in = substring of 'obj' to be replaced, scalar
  OPTIONAL INPUT PARMETER:
out = what 'in' is replaced with, scalar. If not supplied
then out = '', i.e. 'in' is not replaced by anything.

Output Parameters

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Result returned as function value. Input object string
not changed unless assignment done in calling program.

Procedure

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Searches for 'in', splits 'obj' into 3 pieces, reassembles
with 'out' in place of 'in'. Repeats until all cases done.

Example

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If a = 'I am what I am' then print,repstr(a,'am','was')
will give 'I was what I was'.

Modification History

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Written by Robert S. Hill, ST Systems Corp., 12 April 1989.
Accept vector object strings, W. Landsman HSTX, April, 1996
      Convert loop to LONG, vectorize STRLEN call W. Landsman June 2002
      Correct bug in optimization, case where STRLEN(OBJ) EQ
        STRLEN(IN), C. Markwardt, Jan 2003
      Fixed problem when multiple replacements extend the string length
                D. Finkbeiner, W. Landsman April 2003
      Allow third parameter to be optional again W. Landsman August 2003
      Remove limitation of 9999 characters, C. Markwardt Dec 2003
      Test for empty "in" string (causing infinite loop) W. Landsman Jan 2010
      Streamline code W Landsman Dec 2011