Replace only some groups with Regex

You can do this using lookahead and lookbehind:

var pattern = @"(?<=-)\d+(?=-)";
var replaced = Regex.Replace(text, pattern, "AA"); 

I also had need for this and I created the following extension method for it:

public static class RegexExtensions
{
    public static string ReplaceGroup(
        this Regex regex, string input, string groupName, string replacement)
    {
        return regex.Replace(
            input,
            m =>
            {
                var group = m.Groups[groupName];
                var sb = new StringBuilder();
                var previousCaptureEnd = 0;
                foreach (var capture in group.Captures.Cast<Capture>())
                {
                    var currentCaptureEnd =
                        capture.Index + capture.Length - m.Index;
                    var currentCaptureLength =
                        capture.Index - m.Index - previousCaptureEnd;
                    sb.Append(
                        m.Value.Substring(
                            previousCaptureEnd, currentCaptureLength));
                    sb.Append(replacement);
                    previousCaptureEnd = currentCaptureEnd;
                }
                sb.Append(m.Value.Substring(previousCaptureEnd));

                return sb.ToString();
            });
    }
}

Usage:

var input = @"[assembly: AssemblyFileVersion(""2.0.3.0"")][assembly: AssemblyFileVersion(""2.0.3.0"")]";
var regex = new Regex(@"AssemblyFileVersion\(""(?<version>(\d+\.?){4})""\)");


var result = regex.ReplaceGroup(input , "version", "1.2.3");

Result:

[assembly: AssemblyFileVersion("1.2.3")][assembly: AssemblyFileVersion("1.2.3")]

If you don't want to change your pattern you can use the Group Index and Length properties of a matched group.

var text = "example-123-example";
var pattern = @"-(\d+)-";
var regex = new RegEx(pattern);
var match = regex.Match(text);

var firstPart = text.Substring(0,match.Groups[1].Index);    
var secondPart = text.Substring(match.Groups[1].Index + match.Groups[1].Length);
var fullReplace = firstPart + "AA" + secondPart;

Here is another nice clean option that does not require changing your pattern.

        var text = "example-123-example";
        var pattern = @"-(\d+)-";

        var replaced = Regex.Replace(text, pattern, (_match) =>
        {
            Group group = _match.Groups[1];
            string replace = "AA";
            return String.Format("{0}{1}{2}", _match.Value.Substring(0, group.Index - _match.Index), replace, _match.Value.Substring(group.Index - _match.Index + group.Length));
        });

In 2024 there's another, very performant option that:

1. uses Span to prevent allocations, and avoids Substring and StringBuilder and other expensive stuff
2. Works with multiple matches
3. Incredibly simple and doesn't need you to update the pattern

Here's the code:

var outputString = MyRegex.Replace(inputString, m =>
{
    var grp = m.Groups[1];
    return string.Concat(
        m.ValueSpan.Slice(0, grp.Index - m.Index), //prior part
        PUT_REPLACEMENT_HERE, //replacement
        m.ValueSpan.Slice(grp.Index + grp.Length - m.Index) //trailing part
    );
});

P.S. ValueSpan is available in .NET 6 and later

P.P.S. If you're on .NET 7/8 - use [GeneratedRegex] to pre-build your regex at compile time

Replace code:

var text = "example-123-example";
var pattern = @"-(\d+)-";
var replaced = Regex.ReplaceGroupValue(text, pattern, 1, "AA");

Extension class:

public static class RegexExtensions
{
    [Pure]
    public static string ReplaceGroupValue(this Regex source, string input, string groupName, string destinationValue)
    {
        return ReplaceGroupValue(
            source,
            input,
            m => m.Groups[groupName],
            p => destinationValue);
    }

    [Pure]
    public static string ReplaceGroupValue(this Regex source, string input, int groupIdx, string destinationValue)
    {
        return ReplaceGroupValue(
            source,
            input,
            m => m.Groups[groupIdx],
            p => destinationValue);
    }

    [Pure]
    public static string ReplaceGroupValue(this Regex source, string input, string groupName, Func<string, string> destinationValueSelector)
    {
        return ReplaceGroupValue(
            source,
            input,
            m => m.Groups[groupName],
            destinationValueSelector);
    }

    [Pure]
    public static string ReplaceGroupValue(this Regex source, string input, int groupIdx, Func<string, string> destinationValueSelector)
    {
        return ReplaceGroupValue(
            source,
            input,
            m => m.Groups[groupIdx],
            destinationValueSelector);
    }

    [Pure]
    private static string ReplaceGroupValue(
        Regex source,
        string input,
        Func<Match, Group> groupSelector,
        Func<string, string> destinationValueSelector)
    {
        var matchResult = source.Matches(input);

        if (matchResult.Count <= 0)
        {
            return input;
        }

        var text = input;

        foreach (var group in matchResult.OfType<Match>().Select(groupSelector).OrderByDescending(p => p.Index))
        {
            var begin = group.Index > 0 ? text.Substring(0, group.Index) : string.Empty;
            var end = group.Index + group.Length < text.Length
                ? text.Substring(group.Index + group.Length)
                : string.Empty;
            var destinationValue = destinationValueSelector.Invoke(group.Value);
            text = $"{begin}{destinationValue}{end}";
        }

        return text;
    }
}

Here is a version similar to Daniel's but replacing multiple matches:

public static string ReplaceGroup(string input, string pattern, RegexOptions options, string groupName, string replacement)
{
    Match match;
    while ((match = Regex.Match(input, pattern, options)).Success)
    {
        var group = match.Groups[groupName];

        var sb = new StringBuilder();

        // Anything before the match
        if (match.Index > 0)
            sb.Append(input.Substring(0, match.Index));

        // The match itself
        var startIndex = group.Index - match.Index;
        var length = group.Length;
        var original = match.Value;
        var prior = original.Substring(0, startIndex);
        var trailing = original.Substring(startIndex + length);
        sb.Append(prior);
        sb.Append(replacement);
        sb.Append(trailing);

        // Anything after the match
        if (match.Index + match.Length < input.Length)
            sb.Append(input.Substring(match.Index + match.Length));

        input = sb.ToString();
    }

    return input;

go through the below coding to get the separate group replacement.

new_bib = Regex.Replace(new_bib, @"(?s)(\\bibitem\[[^\]]+\]\{" + pat4 + @"\})[\s\n\v]*([\\\{\}a-zA-Z\.\s\,\;\\\#\\\$\\\%\\\&\*\@\\\!\\\^+\-\\\=\\\~\\\:\\\" + dblqt + @"\\\;\\\`\\\']{20,70})", delegate(Match mts)
                    {
                           var fg = mts.Groups[0].Value.ToString(); 
                           var fs = mts.Groups[1].Value.ToString();
                           var fss = mts.Groups[2].Value.ToString();
                               fss = Regex.Replace(fss, @"[\\\{\}\\\#\\\$\\\%\\\&\*\@\\\!\\\^+\-\\\=\\\~\\\:\\\" + dblqt + @"\\\;\\\`\\\']+", "");
                           return "<augroup>" + fss + "</augroup>" + fs;
                    }, RegexOptions.IgnoreCase);