Replace All Occurrences In A String Duplicate

Have you ever needed to replace all duplicate occurrences of a specific substring within a string in your code, but found yourself unsure how to tackle this task efficiently? Fear not, as in this article, we will walk you through a straightforward method to replace all instances of a duplicate substring in a string using Python!

Let's dive right in. One way you can achieve this is by utilizing the built-in `re` module in Python, which provides support for regular expressions. By using the `re.sub()` function along with a regular expression pattern, you can easily replace all duplicate occurrences of a substring within a string.

Here's a step-by-step guide on how to do this:

1. Import the `re` module at the beginning of your script:

import re

2. Define a function that takes the original string and the substring you want to replace as input parameters:

def replace_duplicates(input_string, target_substring):
    pattern = r'b' + re.escape(target_substring) + r'b'
    return re.sub(pattern, '', input_string)

In this function:
- We construct a regular expression pattern using `b` to match word boundaries, `re.escape()` to escape special characters in the target substring, and concatenate them to form the pattern.
- The `re.sub()` function replaces all occurrences of the target substring that are surrounded by word boundaries with an empty string, effectively removing them.

3. Test the function with a sample string and see the magic happen:

original_string = "hello world hello people hello"
target_substring = "hello"
result = replace_duplicates(original_string, target_substring)
print(result)

In this example, the function will replace all duplicate occurrences of the word "hello" within the string "hello world hello people hello", resulting in the output: " world people ".

By following these simple steps, you can easily replace all duplicate occurrences of a specific substring within a string using Python and the `re` module. This approach is not only efficient but also flexible, allowing you to customize the replacement logic based on your specific requirements.

So, the next time you encounter the need to handle duplicate occurrences in a string, remember this handy technique and streamline your code with ease. Happy coding!