replacelist ';' LIST ';' REGEX (';' STRING (';' STRING)? )?

Summary

The replacelist macro applies regex-based replacement to each element in a list. Unlike ${replace}, it uses a sophisticated splitter that handles quoted sections, preserving commas within quotes.

Syntax

${replacelist;<list>;<regex>[;<replacement>[;<delimiter>]]}

Parameters

• list - List of elements (can contain quoted sections with commas)
• regex - Regular expression pattern to match
• replacement (optional) - Replacement string with $1-$9 back-references (default: empty)
• delimiter (optional) - Output delimiter (default: “,”)

Behavior

• Splits list intelligently (respects quoted sections)
• Applies element.replaceAll(regex, replacement) to each
• Supports regex back-references ($1, $2, etc.)
• Preserves quoted sections during splitting
• Returns delimited result

Examples

Add to quoted elements:

impls: foo;version="[1,2)", bar;version="[1.2,2)"
${replacelist;${list;impls};$;\\;strategy=highest}
# Returns: foo;version="[1,2)";strategy=highest,bar;version="[1.2,2)";strategy=highest

Process dependencies:

deps: lib;version="1.0,2.0",tool;version="2.0"
${replacelist;${deps};$;,optional}

Back-references with quotes:

${replacelist;a="x,y",b="z";(.+)="(.+)";$1:$2}

Use Cases

• OSGi manifest attribute manipulation
• Dependency list processing
• Version range handling
• Complex list transformations
• Preserving structured data

Notes

• Handles quoted sections properly
• More robust than ${replace} for OSGi attributes
• Regex uses Java syntax
• Empty replacement removes matched text
• See also: ${replace} for simple splitting
• See also: ${replacestring} for single strings

See test cases in MacroTestsForDocsExamples.java