String Replacement Methods: StringTemplate

A String Replacement Overview is here.

StringTemplate

StringTemplate saves you the trouble of searching for a String subset within a String to replace or setting up your own marker to flag the StringPosition in the String at which to perform a replacement.

Further, good programming practice dictates that we use selectors and constructors – specialized, dedicated functions to extract a subset of a file or to change a subset of a file – and to always use those rather than ad hoc one liners scattered in our functions and programs.^1,2 StringTemplate conveniently formalizes and enforces the use of selectors and constructors.

StringForm is simpler to understand and use than StringTemplate, so I use StringForm when you need to output a message from your function. I don't end the command with a semi-colon so you can see the InputForm of a TemplateObject including its default Options.

stringTemplate1=StringTemplate@"The quick brown `` jumped over the lazy white ``."

TemplateObject[{The quick brown ,TemplateSlot[1], jumped over the lazy white ,TemplateSlot[2],.},InsertionFunction->TextString,CombinerFunction->StringJoin]

You can directly Apply any StringTemplate as a function to a List of its arguments that fits its requirements, or use TemplateApply to do the same thing.

stringTemplate1@@{"mink","peccadillo"}

The quick brown mink jumped over the lazy white peccadillo.

Equivalently, here StringTemplate is used as a function as you would any other function – use it as the Head of an Expression with its arguments.

stringTemplate1["mink","peccadillo"]

The quick brown mink jumped over the lazy white peccadillo.

Equivalently, using TemplateApply:

TemplateApply[stringTemplate1,{"mink","peccadillo"}]

The quick brown mink jumped over the lazy white peccadillo.

1. Maeder, Roman, Computer Science with Mathematica. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000. Chapter 5.3. Design of Abstract Data Types.

2. Maeder, Roman, M220: Programming in Mathematica  (course given by Wolfram Education Group, which I have taken twice and recommend).