Re: conditional replace

["Thomas A. Schmitz" <thomas.schmitz@...>]

On Sep 18, 2007, at 5:31 AM, Patrick Donnelly wrote:

> It would probably be better to just let everything be done via stdin
> and stdout, using pipes:
>
> ========
>
> #!/usr/local/bin/lua
>
> file = io.stdin:read("*all");
>
> file = string.gsub(file, "localgreek(%b{})", function(lines)
>       return "localgreek"..string.gsub(lines, 'a', 'b');
>     end);
>
> io.stdout:write(file);
>
> =======
>
> You will probably want to have the "return "localgreek" ..." part of
> the code just call a function which iterates over your table of
> substitutions for each capture. Notice that you need the "localgreek"
> part concatenated otherwise you lose it.
>
> HTH,
>
> --  
> -Patrick Donnelly

Yes, this and Tomás's answer have helped a lot. I've got the function- 
with-gsub and the iterator working, but I've hit another snag: I  
build my array of substitutions like so:

subs = {
a = "α",
b = "β"
}

etc. But as soon as I try to stick some non-alphanumerical characters  
in there like so:

>~h| = ᾖ

I get errors. Is it impossible to have keys to an array that are of  
this form, or am I missing something obvious?

Thanks again!

Thomas