Returns a string with specified substring replacements. The data type of the returned value matches the data type of the expression passed to the function.

Syntax

REPLACE ( source-string , from-string , to-string )
source-string
Specifies the base string to make replacements in. The source-string parameter can be any expression that evaluates to a string or a LONGCHAR. The REPLACE function does not change the value of source-string itself; the function returns the string with replacements.
from-string
Specifies the substring to replace. The from-string parameter can be any expression that evaluates to a string or a LONGCHAR. Each occurrence of from-string within source-string is replaced.
to-string
Specifies the replacement substring. The to-string parameter can be any expression that evaluates to a string or a LONGCHAR. Each occurrence of from-string in source-string is replaced by to-string.

Example

The following example uses the REPLACE function to replace the string "user" with an actual user ID, if available:

r-repl.p 

DEFINE VARIABLE greeting AS CHARACTER NO-UNDO FORMAT "x(40)"
  INITIAL "Starting user's session . . . ".

IF USERID("DICTDB") < > "" THEN 
  greeting = REPLACE(greeting, "user", USERID("DICTDB")).
DISPLAY greeting WITH NO-LABELS.

Notes

  • The REPLACE function replaces all occurrences of from-string within source-string. After replacing a substring, the REPLACE function resumes searching the string after the inserted text. Thus, the inserted text is not recursively searched (in whole or in part) for from-string.
  • The search for occurrences of from-string within source-string is not case sensitive, unless one of the three values used in the function (source-string, to-string, or from-string) is a case-sensitive field or variable.
  • If any of the arguments to the REPLACE function evaluate to the Unknown value (?), the function returns the Unknown value (?).

See also

OVERLAY statement, SUBSTITUTE function, SUBSTRING function