String replacement in Objective-C

Question

You could use the method

- (NSString *)stringByReplacingOccurrencesOfString:(NSString *)target 
                                        withString:(NSString *)replacement

...to get a new string with a substring replaced (See NSString documentation for others)

Example use

NSString *str = @"This is a string";

str = [str stringByReplacingOccurrencesOfString:@"string"
                                     withString:@"duck"];

NSString objects are immutable (they can't be changed), but there is a mutable subclass, NSMutableString, that gives you several methods for replacing characters within a string. It's probably your best bet.

If you want multiple string replacement:

NSString *s = @"foo/bar:baz.foo";
NSCharacterSet *doNotWant = [NSCharacterSet characterSetWithCharactersInString:@"/:."];
s = [[s componentsSeparatedByCharactersInSet: doNotWant] componentsJoinedByString: @""];
NSLog(@"%@", s); // => foobarbazfoo

It also posible string replacement with stringByReplacingCharactersInRange:withString:

for (int i = 0; i < card.length - 4; i++) {

    if (![[card substringWithRange:NSMakeRange(i, 1)] isEqual:@" "]) {

        NSRange range = NSMakeRange(i, 1);
        card = [card stringByReplacingCharactersInRange:range withString:@"*"];

    }

} //out: **** **** **** 1234