Replace "$" in a string in R

Question

I would like to replace $ in my R strings. I have tried:

mystring <- "file.tree.id$HASHd15962267-44c21f1cee1057d95d6840$HASHe92451fece3b3341962516acfa962b2f$checked"

 stringr::str_replace(mystring, pattern="$", 
              replacement="!")

However, it fails and my replacement character is put as the last character in my original string:

[1] "file.tree.id$HASHd15962267-44c21f1cee1057d95d6840$HASHe92451fece3b3341962516acfa962b2f$checked!"

I tried some variation using "pattern="/$" but it fails as well. Can someone point a strategy to do that?

score 3 · Answer 1 · answered Apr 21 '21 at 17:10

3

In base R, You could use:

chartr("$","!", mystring)
[1] "file.tree.id!HASHd15962267-44c21f1cee1057d95d6840!HASHe92451fece3b3341962516acfa962b2f!checked"

Or even

 gsub("$","!", mystring, fixed = TRUE)

answered Apr 21 '21 at 17:10

Onyambu

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akrun · Accepted Answer · 2021-04-21T17:08:57.667

1

We need fixed to be wrapped as by default pattern is in regex mode and in regex $ implies the end of string

stringr::str_replace_all(mystring, pattern = fixed("$"), 
              replacement = "!")

Or could escape (\\$) or place it in square brackets ([$]$), but `fixed would be more faster

edited Apr 21 '21 at 17:08

answered Apr 21 '21 at 17:04

akrun

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Thanks for your solution. However it seems to replace only the first `$` in the string. stringr::str_replace(mystring, pattern = fixed("$"), + replacement = "!") [1] "file.tree.id!HASHd15962267-44c21f1cee1057d95d6840$HASHe92451fece3b3341962516acfa962b2f$checked" – user3091668 Apr 21 '21 at 17:08
1

@user3091668 sorry, didn't check your string earlier. You need `str_replace_all`, because `str_replace` only does the replacement on the first instance – akrun Apr 21 '21 at 17:09

Replace "$" in a string in R

2 Answers2