CFLib.org – Common Function Library Project

Description:
Replaces all special characters in a string of code along with spaces. Code can easily be chaged to exclude spaces.

Return Values:
Returns a string.

Example:

<cfset myString = "!Hello_World! This is my ^string^">
<cfset myNewString = replaceSpecialChars(myString)>
<cfoutput>
    "#myString#" now becomes "#myNewString#"
</cfoutput>

Parameters:

Full UDF Source:

<!---
 Replaces all special characters in a string of text.
 
 @param textString      String to have special characters replaced (Required)
 @param replaceTheseChars      Characters to be replaced (Optional)
 @param replaceWithChar      Character to replace special characters with. Defaults to chr(0). (Optional)
 @return Returns a string. 
 @author David Long (dlong@cagedata.com) 
 @version 1, January 4, 2012 
--->
<cffunction name="replaceSpecialChars" access="public" output="false" returntype="String">
    <cfargument name="textString" type="String" hint="String to have special characters replaced">
    <!--- If you would not like to remove spaces take the number 32 out of the list.--->
    <cfargument name="replaceTheseChars" type="String" default="32,33,34,35,36,37,38,39,40,41,42,43,44,45,46,47,58,59,60,61,62,63,64,91,92,93,94,95,96,123,124,126" required="false" hint="Characters to be replaced">
    <cfargument name="replaceWithChar" type="String" default="#chr(0)#" required="no" hint="Character to replace special characters with.">
    <cfscript>
        var returnString = ARGUMENTS.textString;
        var i = 1;
        
        for(i=1; i <= listLen(ARGUMENTS.replaceTheseChars,','); i++){
            returnString = replace(returnString,chr(listGetAt(ARGUMENTS.replaceTheseChars,i)),ARGUMENTS.replaceWithChar,'all');
        }
    </cfscript>
    
    <cfreturn returnString />
</cffunction>