Programming Forums > Application Development > Other Programming Languages

atomicrabbit · Oct 10th, 2007, 5:10 PM

Simply put... how can I replace all of a specific character in a string with another character using regex?

I'm using it to replace all the /?&=:; in a URL with their respective hex value. So if I have a URL like this:

(Toggle Plain Text)

http://domain.com/folder/index.php?id=123&stuff=bob;&hello=world

I would like the output to be:

(Toggle Plain Text)

http%3A%2F%2Fdomain.com%2Ffolder%2Findex.php%3Fid%3D123&stuff%3Dbob%3B&hello%3Dworld

titaniumdecoy · Oct 10th, 2007, 6:34 PM

How you replace characters in a string depends on the language you are using.

For the application you describe, you would be better off using that language's string manipulation features. Regular expressions are unnecessary for such a simple task.

Some languages provide built-in features to convert a string to a URL-encoded string. In PHP, the urlencode and rawurlencode functions do just this.

(Also, the & is a legal character in URLs and does not need to be encoded as in your example string.)

atomicrabbit · Oct 10th, 2007, 11:50 PM

for THIS specific task, it NEEDS to be a regular expression. I am using a firefox extension called Redirector and the extension redirects URL based on rules the user sets using either wildcards or regex. Long story short, I need to replace the symbols I mentioned in my last post with their respective hex character.

btw, I realize the & is a legal character and so are all the other characters, but the url is being passed to a web proxy which cannot handle the actual symbols and require the hex values in order for it to work.

the main goal here is to be able to trap a specific URL and redirect it through a web proxy. So for example, if I type in:

(Toggle Plain Text)

http://www.mydomain.com/folder/index.php?id=123&stuff=bob;&hello=world

it should redirect me to

(Toggle Plain Text)

http://www.thisisawebproxy.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mydomain.com%2Ffolder%2Findex.php%3Fid%3D123&stuff%3Dbob%3B&hello%3Dworld

The firefox extension does the work of the first part (trapping the URL and concatenating the web proxy address to the beginning), I just need to know how to replace specific characters with something else using regular expressions.

atomicrabbit · Oct 12th, 2007, 12:23 PM

any ideas?

atomicrabbit · Oct 17th, 2007, 12:14 PM

what happened to all the posts ??? did the server crash??

I think titaniumdecoy suggested using greasemonkey. What language does greasemonkey use?

atomicrabbit · Oct 17th, 2007, 1:07 PM

ok I created a basic greasemonkey script:

(Toggle Plain Text)

var strNewUrl
var strOrigUrl
strOrigUrl = window.location.href;
strNewUrl = strOrigUrl.replace(/\%/g, '%25'); //must be first or else it will replace the hex values '%' character
strNewUrl = strNewUrl.replace(/\?/g, '%3f');
strNewUrl = strNewUrl.replace(/\&/g, '%26');
strNewUrl = strNewUrl.replace(/\=/g, '%3d');
strNewUrl = strNewUrl.replace(/\@/g, '%40');
strNewUrl = strNewUrl.replace(/\#/g, '%23');
strNewUrl = strNewUrl.replace(/\~/g, '%7e');
strNewUrl = strNewUrl.replace(/\_/g, '%5f');
strNewUrl = strNewUrl.replace(/\;/g, '%3b');
strNewUrl = strNewUrl.replace(/\,/g, '%2c');
strNewUrl = strNewUrl.replace(/\./g, '%2e');
strNewUrl = strNewUrl.replace(/\//g, '%2f');

window.location.href = "http://www.web-proxy-address-goes-here.com/whatever.php?u=" + strNewUrl;

Oct 10th, 2007, 5:10 PM	#1
atomicrabbit Newbie Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 13 Rep Power: 0	regex replace all character A's with character B Simply put... how can I replace all of a specific character in a string with another character using regex? I'm using it to replace all the /?&=:; in a URL with their respective hex value. So if I have a URL like this: (Toggle Plain Text) http://domain.com/folder/index.php?id=123&stuff=bob;&hello=world http://domain.com/folder/index.php?id=123&stuff=bob;&hello=world I would like the output to be: (Toggle Plain Text) http%3A%2F%2Fdomain.com%2Ffolder%2Findex.php%3Fid%3D123&stuff%3Dbob%3B&hello%3Dworld http%3A%2F%2Fdomain.com%2Ffolder%2Findex.php%3Fid%3D123&stuff%3Dbob%3B&hello%3Dworld

Oct 10th, 2007, 6:34 PM	#2
titaniumdecoy Expert Programmer Join Date: Nov 2005 Posts: 843 Rep Power: 3	How you replace characters in a string depends on the language you are using. For the application you describe, you would be better off using that language's string manipulation features. Regular expressions are unnecessary for such a simple task. Some languages provide built-in features to convert a string to a URL-encoded string. In PHP, the urlencode and rawurlencode functions do just this. (Also, the & is a legal character in URLs and does not need to be encoded as in your example string.) Last edited by titaniumdecoy; Oct 10th, 2007 at 6:48 PM.

Oct 10th, 2007, 11:50 PM	#3
atomicrabbit Newbie Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 13 Rep Power: 0	for THIS specific task, it NEEDS to be a regular expression. I am using a firefox extension called Redirector and the extension redirects URL based on rules the user sets using either wildcards or regex. Long story short, I need to replace the symbols I mentioned in my last post with their respective hex character. btw, I realize the & is a legal character and so are all the other characters, but the url is being passed to a web proxy which cannot handle the actual symbols and require the hex values in order for it to work. the main goal here is to be able to trap a specific URL and redirect it through a web proxy. So for example, if I type in: (Toggle Plain Text) http://www.mydomain.com/folder/index.php?id=123&stuff=bob;&hello=world http://www.mydomain.com/folder/index.php?id=123&stuff=bob;&hello=world it should redirect me to (Toggle Plain Text) http://www.thisisawebproxy.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mydomain.com%2Ffolder%2Findex.php%3Fid%3D123&stuff%3Dbob%3B&hello%3Dworld http://www.thisisawebproxy.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mydomain.com%2Ffolder%2Findex.php%3Fid%3D123&stuff%3Dbob%3B&hello%3Dworld The firefox extension does the work of the first part (trapping the URL and concatenating the web proxy address to the beginning), I just need to know how to replace specific characters with something else using regular expressions.

Oct 17th, 2007, 12:14 PM	#5
atomicrabbit Newbie Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 13 Rep Power: 0	Re: regex replace all character A's with character B what happened to all the posts ??? did the server crash?? I think titaniumdecoy suggested using greasemonkey. What language does greasemonkey use?

Oct 17th, 2007, 1:07 PM	#6
atomicrabbit Newbie Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 13 Rep Power: 0	Re: regex replace all character A's with character B ok I created a basic greasemonkey script: (Toggle Plain Text) var strNewUrl var strOrigUrl strOrigUrl = window.location.href; strNewUrl = strOrigUrl.replace(/\%/g, '%25'); //must be first or else it will replace the hex values '%' character strNewUrl = strNewUrl.replace(/\?/g, '%3f'); strNewUrl = strNewUrl.replace(/\&/g, '%26'); strNewUrl = strNewUrl.replace(/\=/g, '%3d'); strNewUrl = strNewUrl.replace(/\@/g, '%40'); strNewUrl = strNewUrl.replace(/\#/g, '%23'); strNewUrl = strNewUrl.replace(/\~/g, '%7e'); strNewUrl = strNewUrl.replace(/\_/g, '%5f'); strNewUrl = strNewUrl.replace(/\;/g, '%3b'); strNewUrl = strNewUrl.replace(/\,/g, '%2c'); strNewUrl = strNewUrl.replace(/\./g, '%2e'); strNewUrl = strNewUrl.replace(/\//g, '%2f'); window.location.href = "http://www.web-proxy-address-goes-here.com/whatever.php?u=" + strNewUrl; var strNewUrl var strOrigUrl strOrigUrl = window.location.href; strNewUrl = strOrigUrl.replace(/\%/g, '%25'); //must be first or else it will replace the hex values '%' character strNewUrl = strNewUrl.replace(/\?/g, '%3f'); strNewUrl = strNewUrl.replace(/\&/g, '%26'); strNewUrl = strNewUrl.replace(/\=/g, '%3d'); strNewUrl = strNewUrl.replace(/\@/g, '%40'); strNewUrl = strNewUrl.replace(/\#/g, '%23'); strNewUrl = strNewUrl.replace(/\~/g, '%7e'); strNewUrl = strNewUrl.replace(/\_/g, '%5f'); strNewUrl = strNewUrl.replace(/\;/g, '%3b'); strNewUrl = strNewUrl.replace(/\,/g, '%2c'); strNewUrl = strNewUrl.replace(/\./g, '%2e'); strNewUrl = strNewUrl.replace(/\//g, '%2f'); window.location.href = "http://www.web-proxy-address-goes-here.com/whatever.php?u=" + strNewUrl;

Oct 12th, 2007, 12:23 PM	#4
atomicrabbit Newbie Join Date: Sep 2007 Posts: 13 Rep Power: 0	any ideas?

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Programming Forums > Application Development > Other Programming Languages

regex replace all character A's with character B