How to use Postgres Regex Replace with a capture group - regex

Question

As the title presents above I am trying to reference a capture groups for a regex replace in a postgres query. I have read that the regex_replace does not support using regex capture groups. The regex I am using is
r"(?:[\s\(\)\=\)\,])(username)(?:[\s\(\)\=\)\,])?"gm
The above regex almost does what I need it to but I need to find out how to only allow a match if the capture groups also capture something. There is no situation where a "username" should be matched if it just so happens to be a substring of a word. By ensuring its surrounded by one of the above I can much more confidently ensure its a username.
An example application of the regex would be something like this in postgres (of course I would be doing an update vs a select):
select *, REGEXP_REPLACE(reqcontent,'(?:[\s\(\)\=\)\,])(username)(?:[\s\(\)\=\)\,])?' ,'NEW-VALUE', 'gm') from table where column like '%username%' limit 100;
If there is any more context that can be provided please let me know. I have also found similar posts (postgresql regexp_replace: how to replace captured group with evaluated expression (adding an integer value to capture group)) but that talks more about splicing in values back in and I don't think quite answers my question.
More context and example value(s) for regex work against. The below text may look familiar these are JQL filters in Jira. We are looking to update our usernames and all their occurrences in the table that contains the filter. Below is a few examples of filters. We originally were just doing a find a replace but that doesn't work because we have some usernames that are only two characters and it was matching on non usernames (e.g je (username) would place a new value in where the word project is found which completely malforms the JQL/String resulting in something like proNEW-VALUEct = balh blah)
type = bug AND status not in (Closed, Executed) AND assignee in (test, username)
assignee=username
assignee = username
Definition of Answered:
Regex that will only match on a 'username' if its surrounded by one of the specials
A way to regex/replace that username in a postgres query.

Answer 1

Capturing groups are used to keep the important bits of information matched with a regex.
Use either capturing groups around the string parts you want to stay in the result and use their placeholders in the replacement:
REGEXP_REPLACE(reqcontent,'([\s\(\)\=\)\,])username([\s\(\)\=\)\,])?' ,'\1NEW-VALUE\2', 'gm')
Or use lookarounds:
REGEXP_REPLACE(reqcontent,'(?<=[\s\(\)\=\)\,])(username)(?=[\s\(\)\=\)\,])?' ,'NEW-VALUE', 'gm')
Or, in this case, use word boundaries to ensure you only replace a word when inside special characters:
REGEXP_REPLACE(reqcontent,'\yusername\y' ,'NEW-VALUE', 'g')