Replace parts of list elements using regex with quoted section support

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