Replace repeat characters in string

[am632]

Hi,

I'm wanting to replace characters in a string which occure on more than 1 occasion, so for example if I have the following string.

XXXYYYYXXZZXXXXXUUU

So is there a function I can use to replace say 2 x's with the letter 'W' and 3 x's with the letter 'R' for example? but if there are 5 X's like in the example could this be replaced with the letters 'WR'

I had a look at all the string functions in the help file but I cant find anything that would be suitable. I essentially need to search the string starting from the beginning for the occurances because the string can change depending on some variables from the user.

 

Thanks

[water]

I think this should be possible with StringReplace. Start with the longest:

$sString = StringReplace($sString, "xxxxx", "WR")
$sString = StringReplace($sString, "xxxx", "??")
$sString = StringReplace($sString, "xxx", "R")
$sString = StringReplace($sString, "xx", "W")

 

Edited May 1, 2016 by water

[mikell]

A precise use of StringReplace should do it (from left to right, always)

$str = "XXXYYYYXXZZXXXXXUUU"

$str = StringReplace($str, 'XXX', 'W')
$str = StringReplace($str, 'XX', 'R')
Msgbox(0,"", $str)

Edit
water I didn't see your post 

Edited May 1, 2016 by mikell

[am632]

Hi,

Thanks for that it works fine. I did originally try StringReplace but it didn't cross my mind to start with the longest string frist.

 

Thanks

[water]