ReplaceRepeated
expr//.rules
repeatedly performs replacements until expr no longer changes.
ReplaceRepeated[rules]
represents an operator form of ReplaceRepeated that can be applied to an expression.
Details and Options
- expr//.rules effectively applies /. repeatedly, until the results it gets no longer change.
- It performs one complete pass over the expression using /., then carries out the next pass.
- You should be very careful to avoid infinite loops when you use the //. operator. The command x//.x->x+1 will, for example, lead to an infinite loop.
- ReplaceRepeated takes the option MaxIterations, which specifies the maximum number of times it will try to apply the rules you give. The default setting is MaxIterations->65536. With MaxIterations->Infinity there is no limit.
- ReplaceRepeated[rules][expr] is equivalent to ReplaceRepeated[expr,rules].
Examples
open allclose allBasic Examples (3)
Apply rules for the power and product laws for logarithms of real numbers recursively:
ReplaceAll does just a single replacement:
Remove all occurrences of a head, including nested ones:
ReplaceAll would only remove the outermost head:
Use ReplaceRepeated in operator form:
Scope (3)
If no rule matches, the input expression is returned:
Replace occurrences of f with 1 followed by exactly one integer:
Replace occurrences of f with 1 followed by one or more integers:
Replace occurrences of f with 1 followed by zero or more integers:
ReplaceRepeated works inside held expressions:
Do not evaluate the right-hand side of the rule before doing the replacement:
Properties & Relations (5)
An empty list is considered to have no matching rules:
When a list of lists is used for replacement, the result is a list of the same length:
Evaluation is not forced when replacing into a held expression:
ReplaceRepeated is effectively a combination of ReplaceAll and FixedPoint:
ReplaceRepeated scans multiple times from the top of an expression:
ReplaceAll replaces the largest subexpressions it can and then stops:
Replace with level spec All will attempt to replace every subexpression exactly once:
Text
Wolfram Research (1988), ReplaceRepeated, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/ReplaceRepeated.html (updated 2018).
CMS
Wolfram Language. 1988. "ReplaceRepeated." Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Wolfram Research. Last Modified 2018. https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/ReplaceRepeated.html.
APA
Wolfram Language. (1988). ReplaceRepeated. Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Retrieved from https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/ReplaceRepeated.html