RegEx only at start/end for all chars of group

[supersonic]

Hi -

I need a litte help with StringRegExpReplace(). My goal is to capture all leading and trailing space chars only and replace _each_ of them with another same char.

This:

Local $sText1 = "   geb.   test   "
ConsoleWrite(StringRegExpReplace($sText1, "^\h+|\h+$", "*"))

... returns "*geb.   test*".

My wish is to return "***geb.   test***".

Using "(\h)" as pattern will capture each space char as a capturing group, unluckily even the unwanted spaces between "." and "test" (that should remain).

I tried a lot without success.

Please, can someone help me out?

[jchd]

Try this:

Local $sText1 = "   geb.   test   "
ConsoleWrite(Execute("'" & StringRegExpReplace($sText1, "(?|^(\h*)|(\h*)$)", "' & StringReplace('$1', ' ', '*') & '") & "'") & @LF)

 

[supersonic]

Nice - thank you!

[mikell]

Without using Execute

StringRegExpReplace($sText1, '\G\h|\h(?=\h*$)' ,"*")

[jchd]

Smart one. Indeed I always tend to forget about \G

[mikell]

Another funny one 

StringRegExpReplace($sText1, '\H.*\H(*SKIP)(*F)|\h' ,"*")