Objective-C: Find and Replace in String

Question

I have a string, dynamically generated from a website, that I would like to change.

I already know you need to change the string to a NSMutableString, but the part I want to remove is almost never the same. (e.g. [XXXXX] or [XABXX] ... there are thousands of combos).

The only static parts are the square brackets on either end and that there are 5 characters in between.

How would I recognise and remove this string of seven characters ([*****], with the *'s representing a random letter)?

maybe with regular expression...?

holex
– holex

2013-09-15 16:57:01 +00:00
Commented Sep 15, 2013 at 16:57 — holex
– holex, Commented Sep 15, 2013 at 16:57

Community · Accepted Answer · 2017-05-23 11:50:32Z

3

A simple search and you can find it here:

with a simple change:

- (NSString *)stringCleaner:(NSString *)yourString {
    NSScanner *theScanner;
    NSString *text = nil;

    theScanner = [NSScanner scannerWithString:yourString];

    while ([theScanner isAtEnd] == NO) {
        [theScanner scanUpToString:@"[" intoString:NULL] ;
        [theScanner scanUpToString:@"]" intoString:&text] ;
        yourString = [yourString stringByReplacingOccurrencesOfString:[NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@]", text] withString:@""];
    }

    return yourString;
}

edited May 23, 2017 at 11:50

CommunityBot

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answered Sep 15, 2013 at 17:12

Head_Worx

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2 Comments

ZuluDeltaNiner Over a year ago

can you put this in an IBAction?

Head_Worx Over a year ago

sure, you can set a IBAction method with that code but instead of returning the string will just set the value where you need it or just do this: //add this action to UIButton - (IBAction)buttonAction:(id)sender { NSString *finalString = [self stringCleaner:@"mytext[azert]toReplace"]; //do something with finalString }

Wain · Accepted Answer · 2013-09-15 16:57:04Z

1

Look at using the NSRegularExpression class to find each substring you need to operate on.

answered Sep 15, 2013 at 16:57

Wain

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4 Comments

ZuluDeltaNiner Over a year ago

I was able to get it to work with regexes, except for NSRegularExpression *regex = [NSRegularExpression regularExpressionWithPattern:@"\[" (... replace with "") If I do this, I get a blank output. Any other regex is fine. Is there a way that you know works to remove a "["?

Wain Over a year ago

\[ is the correct escape sequence. Did you use \[\d{5}\] ?

ZuluDeltaNiner Over a year ago

I get unknown escape sequence for \d and \]

ZuluDeltaNiner Over a year ago

nevermind. Just note that in obj-c, you need to escape like this: \\[

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