Text - Replace
Declaration
<AMTEXT ACTIVITY="replace" TEXT="text" FIND="text" REPLACE="text" RESULTVARIABLE="text" USERE="YES/NO" USECASE="YES/NO" INDEX="number" MAXMATHCES="number" TOTALMATCHESVARIABLE="number" />
Description: Finds and replaces a word or phrase inside of a larger piece of text and populates a variable with the result. Regular expressions can be used for added flexibility and extended search capabilities.
Practical Usage
Commonly used to find and replace each or every occurrence of a text pattern. It can also search for and replace special characters and document elements such as tabs and manual page breaks. Can also be used to quickly find and replace across multiple files.
General Parameters
|
Property |
Type |
Required |
Default |
Markup |
Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Text |
Text |
Yes |
(Empty) |
TEXT="My Name is Joe" |
The target text to be searched. As with every text parameter, if the data you wish to enter is contained in a variable, simply enter the variable name surrounded by percentage signs to resolve it to it's contents at runtime (e.g., %VarName%). |
|
Find |
Text |
Yes |
(Empty) |
FIND="Joe" |
The text to search for. |
|
Replace with |
Text |
Yes |
(Empty) |
REPLACE="Jim" |
The text to replace the found text with. |
|
Case sensitive |
Yes/No |
No |
No |
USECASE="YES" |
In a case sensitive language, "abc" is considered different data than "ABC." Therefore, setting this parameter to YES denotes that the text to search for must match the exact case (upper/lower case) of the text specified in the Find parameter. This parameter is set to NO by default. |
|
Regular expression |
Yes/No |
No |
No |
USECASE="YES" |
If set to YES, specifies that the Find parameter contains a regular expression. If set to NO (default), specifies that the Find parameter contains literal text. |
|
Populate variable with result |
Text |
Yes |
(Empty) |
RESULTVARIABLE="varname" |
The name of an existing variable to receive the new text after replacement. |
Advanced Parameters
|
Property |
Type |
Required |
Default |
Markup |
Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Starting at the following instance |
Number |
No |
1 |
INDEX="5" |
Specifies at what instance text replacement should be applied. |
|
Maximum replacements |
Number |
No |
0 |
MAXMATCHES="6" |
Specifies the maximum number of replacements that should be made. If 0 (default) is specified, all instances of the found text will be replaced. |
|
Total replacement count into variable |
Text |
No |
(Empty) |
TOTALMATCHESVAR="varname" |
The name of the variable to receive the total number of replacements that were made. |
Description tab - A custom description can be provided on the Description tab to convey additional information or share special notes about a task step.
Error Causes tab - Specify how this step should behave upon the occurrence of an error. (Refer to Task Builder > Error Causes Tab for details.)
On Error tab - Specify what AWE should do if this step encounters an error as defined on the Error Causes tab. (Refer to Task Builder > On Error Tab for details.)
Examples
The sample AML code below can be copied and pasted directly into the Steps panel of the Task Builder.
Sample Task 1
Replace text activity used to find and replace a single word inside of a larger piece of text.
<AMVARIABLE NAME="sourcedata" VALUE="adds power, speed, flexibility and intelligence." /> <AMVARIABLE NAME="newdata" /> <AMSHOWDIALOG>Text before Replace text activity: %sourcedata%</AMSHOWDIALOG> <AMTEXT ACTIVITY="replace" TEXT="%sourcedata%" FIND="speed" REPLACE="SEXINESS" RESULTVARIABLE="newdata" USECASE="YES" /> <AMSHOWDIALOG>Text after Replace text activity is poerformed: %newdata%</AMSHOWDIALOG>
Sample Task 2
Replace text activity used to find and replace every occurrence of a text pattern.
<AMVARIABLE NAME="theOriginalText" VALUE="All_underscore_characters_will_be_replaced_with_a_space." DESCRIPTION="Replace Task Demonstration" /> <AMVARIABLE NAME="theNewText"></AMVARIABLE> <AMTEXT ACTIVITY="replace" TEXT="%theOriginalText%" FIND="_" REPLACE=" " RESULTVARIABLE="theNewText" /> <AMSHOWDIALOG WINDOWTITLE="Replace text demonstration">The original text string: %theOriginalText% The new text string: %theNewText%</AMSHOWDIALOG>
SAMPLE TASK 3
Replace pipe "|" symbol with tab
<AMVARIABLE NAME="theFile" VALUE="one|two|three|four|five| six|seven|eight|nine|ten" /><AMVARIABLE NAME="theLine"> </AMVARIABLE><AMVARIABLE NAME="newData"></AMVARIABLE> <AMTEXT ACTIVITY="replace" TEXT="%theFile%" FIND="|" REPLACE="" "" RESULTVARIABLE="newData" /> <AMMESSAGEBOX>%newData%</AMMESSAGEBOX>