Perl Requires Chilkat v11.1.0+

Regular Expression Replace Capture Groups

See more Regular Expressions Examples

Demonstrates replacing capture groups for a regular expression.

Note: Chilkat uses PCRE2. See PCRE2 Regular Expressions
Also see: PCRE2 Performance

Chilkat2 Perl

use strict;
use warnings;
use Chilkat2;

my $subject = 'John Anders, +_+_+ Mary Robins $$$$';
my $pattern = '(?<first>\w+)\s+(?<last>\w+)';

my $sb = Chilkat2::StringBuilder->new;
$sb->Append($subject);

my $json = Chilkat2::JsonObject->new;
$json->EmitCompact(0);

my $timeoutMs = 2000;
my $numMatches = $sb->RegexMatch($pattern, $json, $timeoutMs);
if ($numMatches < 0) {
    # Probably an error in the regular expression.
    # Suggestion: Use AI to help create and/or diagnose regular expressions.
    print $sb->LastErrorText, "\n";
    exit;
}

# Examine the matches:
print $json->Emit(), "\n";

# There are 2 matches:

# {
#   "named": {
#     "first": 1,
#     "last": 2
#   },
#   "match": [
#     {
#       "group": [
#         {
#           "cap": "John Anders",
#           "idx": 0,
#           "len": 11
#         },
#         {
#           "cap": "John",
#           "idx": 0,
#           "len": 4
#         },
#         {
#           "cap": "Anders",
#           "idx": 5,
#           "len": 6
#         }
#       ]
#     },
#     {
#       "group": [
#         {
#           "cap": "Mary Robins",
#           "idx": 19,
#           "len": 11
#         },
#         {
#           "cap": "Mary",
#           "idx": 19,
#           "len": 4
#         },
#         {
#           "cap": "Robins",
#           "idx": 24,
#           "len": 6
#         }
#       ]
#     }
#   ]
# }

# To replace capture groups, write code to examine each capture group within
# each match, and provide a replacement string.
# Then call RegexReplace.

# For example, let's capitalize the first names, and add append "on" to the last name.
# After doing replacements, we should get:  JOHN Anderson, +_+_+ MARY Robinson $$$$

my $firstNameIdx = $json->IntOf('named.first');
my $lastNameIdx = $json->IntOf('named.last');

my $sbTemp = Chilkat2::StringBuilder->new;

my $i = 0;
$numMatches = $json->SizeOfArray('match');
while ($i < $numMatches) {
    $json->I($i);

    # The replacement string for the first name will be all uppercase.
    $json->J($firstNameIdx);
    $sbTemp->Clear();
    $json->StringOfSb('match[i].group[j].cap', $sbTemp);
    $sbTemp->ToUppercase();
    $json->UpdateSb('match[i].group[j].rep', $sbTemp);

    # Append "on" to the last name.
    $json->J($lastNameIdx);
    $sbTemp->Clear();
    $json->StringOfSb('match[i].group[j].cap', $sbTemp);
    $sbTemp->Append('on');
    $json->UpdateSb('match[i].group[j].rep', $sbTemp);

    $i = $i + 1;
}

# The JSON now has replacement strings:
print $json->Emit(), "\n";

# {
#   "named": {
#     "first": 1,
#     "last": 2
#   },
#   "match": [
#     {
#       "group": [
#         {
#           "cap": "John Anders",
#           "idx": 0,
#           "len": 11
#         },
#         {
#           "cap": "John",
#           "idx": 0,
#           "len": 4,
#           "rep": "JOHN"
#         },
#         {
#           "cap": "Anders",
#           "idx": 5,
#           "len": 6,
#           "rep": "Anderson"
#         }
#       ]
#     },
#     {
#       "group": [
#         {
#           "cap": "Mary Robins",
#           "idx": 19,
#           "len": 11
#         },
#         {
#           "cap": "Mary",
#           "idx": 19,
#           "len": 4,
#           "rep": "MARY"
#         },
#         {
#           "cap": "Robins",
#           "idx": 24,
#           "len": 6,
#           "rep": "Robinson"
#         }
#       ]
#     }
#   ]
# }

# Call RegexReplace to update the StringBuilder with the replacements.
my $success = $sb->RegexReplace($json);
if (!$success) {
    print $sb->LastErrorText, "\n";
    exit;
}

print "Result after doing replacements:\n";
print $sb->GetAsString(), "\n";

# Result after doing replacements:
# JOHN Anderson, +_+_+ MARY Robinson $$$$