Find and replace with regular expressions

Question

I'm trying to replace a bunch of function calls using regular expressions but can't seem to be getting it right. This is a simplified example of what I'm trying to do:

GetPetDog();
GetPetCat();
GetPetBird();

I want to change to:

GetPet<Animal_Dog>();
GetPet<Animal_Cat>();
GetPet<Animal_Bird>();

And why are you not just finding GetPetDog and replace it with GetPet<Animal_Dog> ? — moffeltje
– moffeltje, Commented Jun 22, 2015 at 12:05
The search-replace mechanism in VS is pretty good, and can handle regular expressions. What have you tried so far? How did it fail? — Some programmer dude
– Some programmer dude, Commented Jun 22, 2015 at 12:07
The reason I don't want to use GetPetDog is because I've got over 20 pet types. I'm looking for something that can work generically for all the different types — user3163192
– user3163192, Commented Jun 22, 2015 at 12:14
I've tried a bunch of different ones, e.g. GetPet(.*), but that seems to be picking up the whole line. So if I have a call where it says e.g. GetPetDog().GiveFood(), it matches the whole line. So it replaces with GetPet<Animal_Dog().GiveFood()>(); I can't seem to get it to stop before the first bracket after Dog. — user3163192
– user3163192, Commented Jun 22, 2015 at 12:17

Rahul · Accepted Answer · 2015-06-22 12:16:08Z

8

Use below regex:

(GetPet)([^(]*) with subsitution \1<Animal_\2>

Demo

answered Jun 22, 2015 at 12:16

Rahul

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2 Comments

user3163192 Over a year ago

Thank you, this is exactly what I needed. Also, great link, I'll definitely use that in the future!

Rahul Over a year ago

Accept the answer so that it may help to others also.

Wiktor Stribiżew · Accepted Answer · 2015-06-22 12:24:40Z

0

You can use the following regex and code for that:

std::string ss ("GetPetDog();");
static const std::regex ee ("GetPet([^()]*)");
std::string result;
result = regex_replace(ss, ee, "GetPet<Animal_$1>");
std::cout << result << endl;

Regex:

GetPet - Matches GetPet literally (we need no capturing group here)
([^()]*) - A capturing group to match any characters other than ( or ) 0 or more times (*)

Output:

enter image description here

answered Jun 22, 2015 at 12:24

Wiktor Stribiżew

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