How can I format text so text can't have stuff like periods in it

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#1

I would like to format strings so that if I put the word st.ring it will return string. or another example s-tring will still return string. Can anyone help me with this?

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#2

do

if string.find(yourtext,".") ~= nil then
    local splits = string.splits(yourtext,".")
    local newstring = splits[0]..splits[2] --if this doesnt work then do splits[1]..splits[2]
end
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#3

Ok let me try it, thanks for helping me!

#4

an easier way would be to use gsub

local str = "hell.o"
print(str:gsub("%.",""))
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#5

I noticed that if i do this, then it will put a number at the end of it. if there any way I can remove it in the same string?

#6

Gsub returns two things, the number of replacements made, and the new string after replacement(s). You can only select the first return by capturing it (e.g. local str = str:gsub("%.". "")) or by implicitly resizing the list to only one argument w/parenthesis (e.g. print( (str:gsub("%.", "")) )).

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#7

Thanks, I never really played with strings that much before.

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#8

After re-reading the OP, it appears you’d like to remove all forms of punctuation, not just periods, correct?

If so, you can achieve this by using the %p pattern; it matches all punctuation characters ( ! @ # ; , .)

e.g.

local str = "str-ing"
str = str:gsub("%p", "")
print(str) --> "string"

Note that this will remove ALL punctuation (as defined above) in the string. If that’s not what you want, please let me know and I’ll try to help further.

#9

I actually need tons of special characters to be blocked for my game. This way players can’t give something away. So I am going to put all the characters in a table.

#10

In that case, you can make use of sets.

e.g.

local blockedCharacters = {".", "/", "`"}
local patternToMatch = "["..table.concat(blockedCharacters).."]"

local function filterStringForBlockedChars(str)
	return ( str:gsub(patternToMatch, "") )
end

print(filterStringForBlockedChars("hello ./` there"))