replace_first¶

The replace_first filter is designed to replace the first occurrence of a specific substring with another string.

Functionality

Strings: Takes a string as input.
Search and Replace: Requires two string arguments:
- old_string: The substring to search for within the input string.
- new_string: The string to replace the first occurrence of old_string with.
First Occurrence: Only the initial instance of old_string is replaced.
Output: Returns a new string with the replacement made.

Syntax

    {{ input_string | replace_first: old_string, new_string }}

Arguments

old_string: The substring to find and replace.
new_string: The replacement string to insert in place of the first occurrence of old_string.

Code Samples

Example 1: Replacing a Word

    {% assign sentence = "This is a test test sentence." %}   
    {{ sentence | replace_first: "test", "sample" }}

Output:

This is a sample test sentence.

Example 2: Replacing a Single Character

    {% assign word = "Hello" %}

    {{ word | replace_first: "e", "a" }}

Output:

Hallo

Example 3: Substring Not Found

    {% assign text = "This string does not contain 'xyz'" %}

    {{ text | replace_first: "xyz", "abc" }}

Output:

This string does not contain 'xyz' (No change)

Empty Strings: If the input_string or old_string is empty, the filter returns the original input_string unchanged.
Substring Not Found: If the old_string is not found within the input_string, the original input_string is returned unchanged.
Non-String Input: If the input or arguments are not strings, the filter might attempt to convert them to strings or return an error, depending on how Experience Builder handles type conversions.

The replace_first filter is precise in targeting only the first occurrence of a substring.
It is case-sensitive, meaning "Test" and "test" are treated as different strings.
Consider using the replace filter if you need to replace all occurrences of a substring.
You can combine this filter with other string manipulation filters to achieve more complex transformations.
Remember that the original string is not modified; a new string with the replacement is returned.