StringReplace with Style will cause another character in the string

Question

StringReplace["abbaabbaa", "ab" -> "X"] will output XbaXbaa, but StringReplace["abbaabbaa", "ab" -> Style["X", Red]] outputs

It is weird, as why there are horizontal lines between the replaced characters and other characters?

Row@(List @@ StringReplace["abbaabbaa", "ab" -> Style["X", Red]]) ? Do a //FullForm at the end of an expression to see its internal structure. — Syed, Sep 20 '23 at 04:58
@xzczd ToString can solve this problem. It is a little difficult to understand it. — Y. zeng, Sep 20 '23 at 05:07
Not difficult at all. It's all because Style["X", Red] is no longer a String. — xzczd, Sep 20 '23 at 05:08
So you need to use ToString to convert it to a String. You may argue the output is confusing and need to be improved, though. — xzczd, Sep 20 '23 at 05:09
BTW, which version of Mathematica are you using? At least in the newest version, the ~~ is displayed, not --. — xzczd, Sep 20 '23 at 05:14
@xzczd 13.3.1 and this is the newest version. Sometimes ~~, sometimes --. Very weird. — Y. zeng, Sep 20 '23 at 05:18

xzczd · Answer 1 · 2023-09-20T05:07:15.187

5

Cannot find an exact duplicate at the moment, but the solution is mentioned at least in the following 3 posts:

StringReplace["abbaabbaa", "ab" -> ToString[Style["X", Red], StandardForm]]

edited Sep 20 '23 at 05:07

answered Sep 20 '23 at 05:01

xzczd

I was using StandardForm like ToString[StringReplace["abbaabbaa", "ab" -> Style["X", Red]], StandardForm] before resorting to the embarassing workaround I posted. – Syed Sep 20 '23 at 05:12

1 Answers1