Need help with string.gsub (Replacing String)

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#1

Hey so I’m trying to replace a string using string.gsub but I’m getting this error and I would appreciate it if you can help me out.

local a="\\[\\[]]"
a = (a):gsub("%\\[","[")
print(a)

Error I get when compiling.
This happens on Roblox and online Lua compilers.

--[[
Lua: main.lua:2: malformed pattern (missing ']')
stack traceback:
	[C]: in function 'string.gsub'
	main.lua:2: in main chunk
	[C]: in ?
--]]

I’m very confused since it works when I do this.

local a="[[\\]\\]"
a = (a):gsub("%\\]","]")
print(a)
-- Output: [[]]

All I want to do is to replace anything that equals "\]" with "]"

Sincerely,
Joe

#2

Every “[” requires an “]” to negate it, I have no idea why, I just know it creates raw strings, but you would use something like this:

local a= "\\[\\[]]" 
a = a:gsub("%\\[[]", "]")
print(a)
1 Like
#3

use % before typing [ so that it’ll search for the character [

local a = "\\[\\[]]"
a = (a):gsub("%\\%[","[")
print(a)

-- output: [[]]

read more about string patterns to understand the behaviour.

#4

Thanks for the help guys I appreciate it very much!
@Kaid3n22
@KING_CHYVZ

1 Like
#5

The [[ operator is used to start multi-line strings.

local LongString = [[TEXT HERE
Hello world!
TEXT HERE]]

print(LongString)

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