QString replace only first occurrence - c++

Question

Is there simple way of replacing only first occurrence of some substring by other substring in QString? It can be at any position.

Answer 1

You could try this:
QString str("this is a string"); // The initial string.
QString subStr("is"); // String to replace.
QString newStr("at"); // Replacement string.
str.replace(str.indexOf(subStr), subStr.size(), newStr);
Resulting string will be:
that at a string

Answer 2

There is no convenience method for the operation you wish to have. However, you can use the following two methods to build your custom operation:
int QString::indexOf(const QString & str, int from = 0, Qt::CaseSensitivity cs = Qt::CaseSensitive) const
Returns the index position of the first occurrence of the string str in this string, searching forward from index position from. Returns -1 if str is not found.
If cs is Qt::CaseSensitive (default), the search is case sensitive; otherwise the search is case insensitive.
and
QString & QString::replace(int position, int n, const QString & after)
Replaces n characters beginning at index position with the string after and returns a reference to this string.
Note: If the specified position index is within the string, but position + n goes outside the strings range, then n will be adjusted to stop at the end of the string.
Now, putting all that into practice, you could write something as follows:
main.cpp
#include <QString>
#include <QDebug>
int main()
{
QString initialString = QLatin1String("foo bar baz");
QString fooString = QLatin1String("foo");
initialString.replace(initialString.indexOf(fooString),
fooString.size(), QLatin1String("stuff"));
qDebug() << initialString;
return 0;
}
main.pro
TEMPLATE = app
TARGET = main
QT = core
SOURCES += main.cpp
Build and Run
qmake && make && ./main
Output
"stuff bar baz"

Answer 3

This is pretty much the way QString::replace(QRegularExpression, ... does it. Since it's possible that literal backslashes could be part of replace pattern, those need to be captured differently. Note that actual replacement happens right-to-left to preserve leftward offset validity. It's possible to put this more compactly, but easier to debug in this form.
QRegularExpression regex = QRegularExpression(regex_pattern);
if (regex.isValid() and
(regex_pattern.length() > 0)) {
QRegularExpressionMatchIterator regex_iterator =
regex.globalMatch(target_text, Apply_Target_Offset,
QRegularExpression::PartialPreferCompleteMatch);
if (regex_iterator.hasNext()) {
// At least one found
QRegularExpressionMatch match = regex_iterator.next();
if (match.hasMatch() and (not match.hasPartialMatch())) {
// This is the first match, and it's complete
int match_begin = match.capturedStart();
int match_end = match.capturedEnd();
int match_length = match.capturedLength();
QStringList captured;
const int capture_groups_count = regex.captureCount() + 1;
for (int capture_group_idx = 0; capture_group_idx < capture_groups_count; ++capture_group_idx) {
captured.append(match.captured(capture_group_idx));
}
QString replace_pattern = Apply_Replace_Pattern->toPlainText();
QString replace_text = replace_pattern;
QList<QRegularExpressionMatch> replace_pattern_match_list;
QRegularExpression replace_pattern_regex = QRegularExpression("(?:\\\\\\\\)+|(?:\\\\(\\d+))");
if (replace_pattern_regex.isValid()) {
QRegularExpressionMatchIterator replace_pattern_regex_iterator =
replace_pattern_regex.globalMatch(replace_pattern);
while (replace_pattern_regex_iterator.hasNext()) {
QRegularExpressionMatch replace_pattern_match = replace_pattern_regex_iterator.next();
bool no_error;
replace_pattern_match.captured().right(1).toInt(&no_error);
// Only accept backreferences w/ numbers
if (no_error) replace_pattern_match_list.append(replace_pattern_match);
}
while (replace_pattern_match_list.count() > 0) {
QRegularExpressionMatch replace_pattern_match = replace_pattern_match_list.takeLast();
int cap_idx = replace_pattern_match.captured(1).toInt();
if (cap_idx < captured.count()) {
replace_text.replace(replace_pattern_match.capturedStart(),
(replace_pattern_match.capturedEnd() -
replace_pattern_match.capturedStart()),
captured[cap_idx]);
}
}
// Render '\' characters properly
replace_text.replace("\\\\", "\\");
}
target_text.replace(match_begin, (match_end - match_begin), replace_text);
}
}
}

Answer 4

//------------------------------------------------------------------
QString & replace_first(QString &io_haystack, const QString & sub_str, const QString & new_str)
{
io_haystack.replace(io_haystack.indexOf(sub_str), sub_str.size(), new_str);
return io_haystack;
} // replace_first
//------------------------------------------------------------------
QString & replace_first(QString &io_haystack, const QRegularExpression & sub_regx, const QString & new_str)
{
QRegularExpressionMatch match;
match = sub_regx.match(io_haystack);
if (match.hasMatch()) {
QString sub_str = match.captured(0);
io_haystack.replace(io_haystack.indexOf(sub_str), sub_str.size(), new_str);
}
return io_haystack;
} // replace_first