Replace matches using regex by modifying matched string in swift

Question

Im trying to replace matched strings using regex in swift, my requirement is as below

originalString = "It is live now at Germany(DE)"

i want the string within the (" ") i.eDE to be separated by space i.e. "D E"

so replacedString should be "It is live now at Germany(D E)"

i tried below code

var value: NSMutableString = "It is live now at Germany(DE)"
let pattern = "(\\([A-Za-z ]+\\))"
let regex = try? NSRegularExpression(pattern: pattern)
regex?.replaceMatches(in: value, options: .reportProgress, range: 
NSRange(location: 0,length: value.length), withTemplate: " $1 ")
print(value)

output is It is live now at Germany (DE), i know it's not what is required. here it is based on the template where we cannot modify based on matched string value. Is there any way to achieve this ?

Thanks in advance

Answer 1

You may use

var value: NSMutableString = "It is live now at Germany(DE) or (SOFE)"
let pattern = "(?<=\\G(?<!\\A)|\\()[A-Za-z](?=[A-Za-z]+\\))"
let regex = try? NSRegularExpression(pattern: pattern)
regex?.replaceMatches(in: value, options: .reportProgress, range: NSRange(location: 0,length: value.length), withTemplate: "$0 ")
print(value)

Or just

let val =  "It is live now at Germany(DE) or (SOFE)"
let pattern = "(?<=\\G(?<!\\A)|\\()[A-Za-z](?=[A-Za-z]+\\))"
print( val.replacingOccurrences(of: pattern, with: "$0 ", options: .regularExpression, range: nil) )

Output: It is live now at Germany(D E) or (S O F E)

Pattern details

• (?<=\\G(?<!\\A)|\\() - a positive lookbehind that matches a location right after ( or at the end of the preceding successful match
• [A-Za-z] - matches and consumes any ASCII letter
• (?=[A-Za-z]+\\)) - a positive lookahead that matches a location that is immediately followed with 1+ ASCII letters and then a ) char.

The $0 in the replacement inserts the whole match value back into the resulting string.