How to replace last occurrence of substring in coldfusion

I get a lot of questions lately on how to extract a substring from a string. Below you can find 4 examples on how to extract a specific substring from a string. It is not to difficult if you know how to write regular expressions. If you have no experience with regex writting these rules can give you a major headache.

<!--- Replace the last occurence of test in the string --->
<cfset example_string = "test abc test 123 test def test 456">
<cfoutput>
#rereplace(example_string,'(.*)(test )(.*)','\1\3','one')#
</cfoutput>
<!--- Output: test abc test 123 test def 456 --->

Below some other examples of how to replace a specific substring from a string.

Replace second occurrence of substring in a string

<!--- Replace the second occurence of test in the string --->
<cfset example_string = "test abc test 123 test def test 456">
<cfoutput>
#rereplace(example_string,'(.*?)(test )(.*?)(test )(.*)','\1\2\3\5','one')#
</cfoutput>
<!--- Output: test abc 123 test def test 456 --->

Replace the first occurrence of substring in a string

<!--- Replace the second occurence of test in the string --->
<cfset example_string = "test abc test 123 test def test 456">
<cfoutput>
#rereplace(example_string,'(.*?)(test )(.*)','\1\3','one')#
</cfoutput>
<!--- Output: abc test 123 test def test 456 --->

Replace the penultimate occurrence of substring in a string

<!--- Replace the penultimate occurence of test in the string --->
<cfset example_string = "test abc test 123 test def test 456">
<cfoutput>
#rereplace(example_string,'(.*)(test )(.*?)(test )(.*)','\1\3\4\5','one')#
</cfoutput>
<!--- Output: test abc test 123 def test 456 --->

Detect the language of text in coldfusion

On occasion i have the opportunity to write something fun. For a project i am currently working on i need to determine / detect the language of text stored in a database. I googled for solutions for determining the language of a string but none of the solutions were easy to implement. So i decided to write a component to solve this problem. Basically i created an array which contains often used words in different languages. Then the function looks for these words in the text for which the language needs to be determined. Based on the number of occurences of the words in the text the language is returned. If you have a question just place a comment.

<cfcomponent name="detectLanguage">
 <cfset Variables.dl_languages = arrayNew(1)>
 <cfset Variables.dl_languages[arraylen(Variables.dl_languages)+1] = structNew()>
 <cfset Variables.dl_languages[arraylen(Variables.dl_languages)].description = "Engels">
 <cfset Variables.dl_languages[arraylen(Variables.dl_languages)].lan = "EN">
 <cfset Variables.dl_languages[arraylen(Variables.dl_languages)].words = "swimming pool,environment,satisfied,quiet,food,staff,location,delicious,room,rooms,beautiful,nice,friendly,breakfast,bad,well,price,prices,what,she,water,now,one,day,their,look,not,been,word,has,that,are,him,made,than,this,had,get,each,you,his,into,about,will,number,but,your,people,there,many,could,more,out,its,call,use,down,from,these,the,were,part,may,find,for,how,they,and,can,time,them,then,see,her,way,some,all,was,have,said,with,like,which,other,would,make,two,oil,write,did,come,when,who,long,first">

 <cfset Variables.dl_languages[arraylen(Variables.dl_languages)+1] = structNew()>
 <cfset Variables.dl_languages[arraylen(Variables.dl_languages)].description = "Nederlands">
 <cfset Variables.dl_languages[arraylen(Variables.dl_languages)].lan = "NL">
 <cfset Variables.dl_languages[arraylen(Variables.dl_languages)].words = "zwembad,omgeving,tevreden,rustig,rustige,eten,personeel,locatie,heerlijk,kamer,kamers,prachtig,leuk,vriendelijk,vriendelijke,ontbijt,slecht,goed,prijs,doen,dag,later,voor,worden,tijd,laatst,werk,zullen,maken,een,zeggen,nieuw,plaats,aan,hebben,dat,goed,jaar,kunnen,hij,aantal,niet,het,klein,die,man,leven,groot,was,van,mensen,moeten,heel,komen,vrouw,ook,zijn,lang">

 <cfset Variables.dl_languages[arraylen(Variables.dl_languages)+1] = structNew()>
 <cfset Variables.dl_languages[arraylen(Variables.dl_languages)].description = "Duits">
 <cfset Variables.dl_languages[arraylen(Variables.dl_languages)].lan = "DE">
 <cfset Variables.dl_languages[arraylen(Variables.dl_languages)].words = "schwimmbad,umwelt,zufrieden,ruhig,essen,personal,lage,lecker,zimmer,schön,freundlich,frühstück,schlecht,gut,preis,preise,sehen,über,selber,wenn,mein,mehr,machen,unser,durch,anderer,das,anderes,groß,immer,wissen,sie,sollen,jede,schon,beispiel,gut,eigentlich,sein,weil,werden,wieder,geben,stehen,also,damit,denn,sehr,bei,andere,gehen,selbst,viel,jedes,jeder,lang,können,doch,unter,aus,ihr,auf,haben,sich,der,kein,zeit,oben,ihm,ihn,noch,jetzt,als,hier,aber,all,was,wir,dann,und,jahr,dass,nach,nur,mir,lassen,uns,zwei,sagen,oder,erstes,mit,erster,kommen,ganz,neu,ein,mich,mal,ich,dies,von,wollen,bis,müssen,nicht,erste,auch,für,vor">

 <cfset Variables.dl_languages[arraylen(Variables.dl_languages)+1] = structNew()>
 <cfset Variables.dl_languages[arraylen(Variables.dl_languages)].description = "Frans">
 <cfset Variables.dl_languages[arraylen(Variables.dl_languages)].lan = "FR">
 <cfset Variables.dl_languages[arraylen(Variables.dl_languages)].words = "piscine,l'environnement,satisfaits,calme,alimentaires,personnel,lieu,délicieux,chambre,chambres,belle,amicale,petit déjeuner,mauvaise,ainsi,prix,elle,voir,dire,mon,demander,non,quelque,raison,aussi,depuis,sans,pendant,moins,monsieur,peu,même,monde,dont,trouver,celui,heure,premier,alors,être,autre,mettre,bien,dans,leur,qui,donner,que,jour,aucun,dernier,nouveau,passer,suite,falloir,personne,temps,sur,mais,deux,point,pour,avant,part,devoir,très,ainsi,vous,aller,comme,cela,nous,rendre,lequel,bon,notre,par,plus,avec,fois,encore,entre,avoir,lui,savoir,pouvoir,vouloir,venir,grand,déjà,comprendre,rester,prendre,tout,son,faire,après">

 <cfset Variables.dl_languages[arraylen(Variables.dl_languages)+1] = structNew()>
 <cfset Variables.dl_languages[arraylen(Variables.dl_languages)].description = "Spaans">
 <cfset Variables.dl_languages[arraylen(Variables.dl_languages)].lan = "ES">
 <cfset Variables.dl_languages[arraylen(Variables.dl_languages)].words = "piscina,ambiente,satisfecho,tranquilo,comida,personal,ubicación,delicioso,habitación,habitaciones,hermoso,bueno,amistoso,desayuno,malo,bien,precio,precios,pasar,también,hacer,menos,ese,porque,haber,ahora,desde,poder,seguir,llevar,hasta,donde,nuestro,nos,después,primero,nuevo,hablar,dar,querer,vida,para,otro,poner,poco,sin,encontrar,siempre,tan,sobre,por,con,vez,entonces,decir,dos,ver,eso,ella,entre,deber,dejar,así,tanto,grande,cada,cuando,llegar,año,muy,ser,mismo,tiempo,todo,más,como,bien,uno,nada,parte,creer,cosa,tener,saber,que,mucho,parecer,qué,este,hombre,estar,día,pero,quedar,alguno">

 <cfset Variables.dl_languages[arraylen(Variables.dl_languages)+1] = structNew()>
 <cfset Variables.dl_languages[arraylen(Variables.dl_languages)].description = "Italiaans">
 <cfset Variables.dl_languages[arraylen(Variables.dl_languages)].lan = "IT">
 <cfset Variables.dl_languages[arraylen(Variables.dl_languages)].words = "piscina,ambiente,soddisfatto,tranquillo,cibo,personale,posizione,delizioso,camera,camere,bello,bella,amichevole,prima colazione,bene,prezzo,prezzi,molto,detto,tutti,dire,tutto,non,noi,quello,più,bene,avere,hai,tuo,con,posso,andare,essere,due,ché,voglio,sono,alla,niente,qui,cosa,così,della,gli,quando,stare,solo,dei,del,fatto,volere,suo,sei,dove,fare,perché,sua,sta,anche,hanno,sapere,allora,questo,vuoi,una,mia,lui,stato,per,questa,che,ancora,chi,mio,grazie,come,uno,ora,mai,nel,era,siamo,lei,potere,abbiamo">

 <cffunction name="lan">
  <cfargument name="in">
  <cfset var result = structNew()>
  <cfset var wordsInString = arraylen(reMatch("[[:word:]]+", in))>



  <cfset result.languages = arrayNew(1)>
  <cfset result.success = false>
  <cfset result.absolute = 0>
  <cfset result.relative = 0>
  <cfset result.message = "">
  

  <cfloop from=1 to="#arrayLen(dl_languages)#" index="l">
   <cfset result.languages[arraylen(result.languages)+1] = arrayNew(1)>
   <cfset result.languages[arraylen(result.languages)][1] = dl_languages[l].lan>
   <cfset result.languages[arraylen(result.languages)][2] = 0>
 
   <cfloop list="#dl_languages[l].words#" index="w">
    <cfset result.languages[arraylen(result.languages)][2] = result.languages[arraylen(result.languages)][2] + #evaluate((Len(trim(in)) - Len(reReplace(lcase(trim(in)),'(^|\s)(#w#)(\s|\.|\,|$)','\1\3','all'))) / Len(#w#))#>
   </cfloop>
  </cfloop>

  <cfloop index="outer" from="1" to="#arrayLen(result.languages)#">
   <cfloop index="inner" from="1" to="#arrayLen(result.languages)-1#">
    <cfif result.languages[inner][2] lt result.languages[outer][2]>
     <cfset arraySwap(result.languages,outer,inner)>
    </cfif>
   </cfloop>
  </cfloop>

  <cfset result.wordsInString = wordsInString>

  <cfif result.languages[1][2] gt 0 and result.languages[1][2] neq result.languages[2][2]>
   <cfset result.success = true>
   <cfset result.absolute = result.languages[1][2]>
   <cfif result.wordsInString gt 0>
    <cfset result.relative = ceiling(result.absolute/result.wordsInString*100)>
   </cfif>
   <cfset result.lan = result.languages[1][1]>
  <cfelse>
   <cfset result.lan = "NA">

   <cfif result.languages[1][2] eq 0>
    <cfset result.message = "No matches">
   <cfelseif result.languages[1][2] eq result.languages[2][2]>
    <cfset result.message = "Multiple matches">
   </cfif>
  </cfif>
  <cfreturn result>
 </cffunction>
</cfcomponent>