Use regex in replace filter

Question

any idea why this: %20AND%20foo%3A%22(.+?)%22 won't match this: %20AND%20foo%3A%22some random string of characters%22 in the Twig |replace filter?

If i do this:

{% set foo = '%20AND%20foo%3A%22some random string of characters%22' %}
{% set bar = '%20AND%20foo%3A%22(.+?)%22' %}
{{ foo |replace(bar, 'replaced') }}
{# OR THIS #}
{{ foo |replace((bar), 'replaced') }}

The result is foo. Nothing gets replaced. I'd expect the result to be the string "replaced". What am I doing wrong?

Answer 1

UPDATE: As of Craft v2.2, the replace filter now supports regex:

The replace filter now supports regular expressions, by setting the first argument to a string that begins and ends with forward slashes, e.g. '/foo/'.

So this should work by adding forward slashes.

{% set bar = '/%20AND%20foo%3A%22(.+?)%22/' %}

I think this is particular to Craft and not native to the Twig replace filter.

---

I don't think the Twig replace filter will allow for regex matches.

According to this post, Twig only uses regular expressions with Comparisons.

But there are third-party plugins which might work:

• Twig PCRE Filters
• Low Regex