How to make the StringExpression not occur in my case?

Question

Why is there a StringExpression in the following code?

f["a b c"] //. x_String :> 
    StringReplace[x, (StartOfString ~~ x1__ ~~ "b" ~~ x2__ ~~ EndOfString) :> f["BBB"]]
(*
    f[StringExpression[f[BBB]]]
*)

Though I can remove it, I'd rather it not appear in the first place, because I'm not sure this method is safe:

f["a b c"] //. x_String :> 
    StringReplace[x, (StartOfString ~~ x1__ ~~ "b" ~~ x2__ ~~ EndOfString) :> f["BBB"]] /. 
    StringExpression -> Sequence
(*
    f[f[BBB]]
*)

This is clearly covered in the docs for StringReplace (point 3 under details): "If the Subscript[sp, i] in the replacements Subscript[s, i]->Subscript[sp, i] do not evaluate to strings, StringReplace will yield a StringExpression rather than an ordinary string." — rm -rf, Jul 05 '13 at 05:39
@rm-rf oh, I see , thanks, f["a b c b "]//.x_String:>StringReplace[x,Shortest[x1__~~"b"~~x2__]:>f["BBB"]] this maybe more apparently why need StringExpression. — HyperGroups, Jul 05 '13 at 05:46

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Jul 05 '13 at 06:34

As R.M. described this behavior is documented:

If the sp_i in the replacements s_i -> sp_i do not evaluate to strings, StringReplace will yield a StringExpression rather than an ordinary string.

I recommend stripping StringExpression as part of the right-hand side of the primary replacement, so that the main expression never has StringExpression substituted into it. A shorter replacement form, e.g. _[x_] :> x may be used as the return from StringReplace should be either a String or a StringExpression object, or you could simply Apply Sequence:

f["a b c"] //. 
 x_String :> 
  Sequence @@ 
   StringReplace[x, (StartOfString ~~ x1__ ~~ "b" ~~ x2__ ~~ EndOfString) :> f["BBB"]]

This works because Sequence @@ "string" returns "string".

How to make the StringExpression not occur in my case?

1 Answers1

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