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.NET Development
.NET Framework 3.5
Regex Class
Regex Methods
Replace Method
 Replace Method (String, String, Str...
This page is specific to
Microsoft Visual Studio 2008/.NET Framework 3.5

Other versions are also available for the following:
.NET Framework Class Library
Regex..::.Replace Method (String, String, String)

Updated: November 2007

Within a specified input string, replaces all strings that match a specified regular expression with a specified replacement string.

Namespace:  System.Text.RegularExpressions
Assembly:  System (in System.dll)

Visual Basic (Declaration)
Public Shared Function Replace ( _
    input As String, _
    pattern As String, _
    replacement As String _
) As String
Visual Basic (Usage)
Dim input As String
Dim pattern As String
Dim replacement As String
Dim returnValue As String

returnValue = Regex.Replace(input, _
    pattern, replacement)
C#
public static string Replace(
    string input,
    string pattern,
    string replacement
)
Visual C++
public:
static String^ Replace(
    String^ input, 
    String^ pattern, 
    String^ replacement
)
J#
public static String Replace(
    String input,
    String pattern,
    String replacement
)
JScript
public static function Replace(
    input : String, 
    pattern : String, 
    replacement : String
) : String

Parameters

input
Type: System..::.String

The string to search for a match.

pattern
Type: System..::.String

The regular expression pattern to match.

replacement
Type: System..::.String

The replacement string.

Return Value

Type: System..::.String

A new string that is identical to the input string, except that a replacement string takes the place of each matched string.

ExceptionCondition
ArgumentException

Regular expression parsing error.

ArgumentNullException

input is nullNothingnullptra null reference (Nothing in Visual Basic).

-or-

pattern is nullNothingnullptra null reference (Nothing in Visual Basic).

-or-

replacement is nullNothingnullptra null reference (Nothing in Visual Basic).

The static Replace methods are equivalent to constructing a Regex object with the specified regular expression pattern and calling the instance method Replace.

The pattern parameter consists of various regular expression language elements that symbolically describe the string to match. For more information about regular expressions, see .NET Framework Regular Expressions and Regular Expression Language Elements. The search for matches starts at the beginning of the input parameter string.

Substitutions are allowed only within a replacement pattern. For similar functionality within a regular expression, use a backreference such as \1.

Character escapes and substitutions are the only special constructs recognized in a replacement pattern. All other syntactic constructs are allowed in regular expressions only and not recognized in replacement patterns. For example, the replacement pattern a*${test}b inserts the string "a*" followed by the substring matched by the "test" capturing group, if any, followed by the string "b". The * character is not recognized as a metacharacter within a replacement pattern. Similarly, $-patterns are not recognized within a regular expression matching pattern. Within a regular expression, $ denotes the end of the string. Other examples are: $123 substitutes the last substring matched by group number 123 (decimal), and ${name} substitutes the last substring matched by a (?<name>) group.

Windows Vista, Windows XP SP2, Windows XP Media Center Edition, Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, Windows XP Starter Edition, Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2000 SP4, Windows Millennium Edition, Windows 98, Windows CE, Windows Mobile for Smartphone, Windows Mobile for Pocket PC, Xbox 360

The .NET Framework and .NET Compact Framework do not support all versions of every platform. For a list of the supported versions, see .NET Framework System Requirements.

.NET Framework

Supported in: 3.5, 3.0, 2.0, 1.1, 1.0

.NET Compact Framework

Supported in: 3.5, 2.0, 1.0

XNA Framework

Supported in: 2.0, 1.0
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