ReplaceAll
expr/.rules or ReplaceAll[expr,rules]
applies a rule or list of rules in an attempt to transform each subpart of an expression expr.
ReplaceAll[rules]
represents an operator form of ReplaceAll that can be applied to an expression.
Details
- ReplaceAll looks at each part of expr, tries all the rules on it, and then goes on to the next part of expr. The first rule that applies to a particular part is used; no further rules are tried on that part or on any of its subparts.
- ReplaceAll applies a particular rule only once to an expression.
- expr/.rules returns expr if none of the rules apply.
- ReplaceAll[rules][expr] is equivalent to ReplaceAll[expr,rules].
Examples
open allclose allBasic Examples (5)
Replace a variable with a value:
Replace a variable with a list:
Use a pattern to bind a variable to a matching part:
Apply the first matching rule:
Use ReplaceAll in operator form:
Scope (14)
If no rule matches, the original expression is returned:
Match expressions with one argument:
Match expressions with one or more arguments:
Match expressions with zero or more arguments:
Replace expressions with a particular head:
Use PatternTest to replace parts that yield True when a test function is applied:
Use Condition to restrict to parts that satisfy a Boolean expression:
Replace each inner pair by restricting the pattern:
ReplaceAll also works with RuleDelayed:
Structurally insert into a held expression:
Do not evaluate the right-hand side of the rule before doing the replacement:
Evaluate the right-hand side before replacement:
Dispatch can be used in place of a list of rules:
Association can be used in place of a list of rules:
Use Association as a pattern for replacement:
Use KeyValuePattern to replace in a list of rules:
Extract the key from an Association that matches a rule:
Properties & Relations (7)
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:
Only the first rule that matches is applied to each part:
Use iterated calls to ReplaceAll to apply each rule to all parts:
Evaluation is not forced when replacing into a held expression:
ReplaceAll replaces any matching part:
Replace replaces a whole expression by default:
It also allows specific levels to be replaced:
ReplaceAll replaces the largest subexpressions it can and then stops:
ReplaceRepeated repeatedly applies ReplaceAll until the expression stops changing:
Replace with level spec All will attempt to replace every subexpression exactly once:
ReplaceAll replaces parts of expressions that match a pattern:
ReplacePart replaces parts of expressions whose positions match a pattern:
Possible Issues (4)
Applying a long list of rules can be slow:
Using Dispatch can be significantly faster:
Associations can be used to specify replacement rules, but the keys are treated as Verbatim values:
The list of rules equivalent to the association is the following:
Periods bind to numbers more strongly than to slash, so the following is a division operation:
Insert a space between /. and numbers to avoid that issue:
Most patterns are only compared against the values of an association:
For compound patterns matching an Association, inner patterns match both keys and values:
By excluding heads matching Association, only comparisons against values are done:
Text
Wolfram Research (1988), ReplaceAll, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/ReplaceAll.html (updated 2015).
CMS
Wolfram Language. 1988. "ReplaceAll." Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Wolfram Research. Last Modified 2015. https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/ReplaceAll.html.
APA
Wolfram Language. (1988). ReplaceAll. Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Retrieved from https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/ReplaceAll.html