Replace string in VBA - vba

Question

sampleString = "Lorem ipsumxolor sit"
I want the immediate left and right characters of x to be blank. The desired output would be "Lorem ipsu x lor sit"
Using stringtext = replace(stringtext, "x", " x "), the output is Lorem ipsum x olor sit. However, the length of the string obviously increases and doesn't match the desired output.
Another limitation is that incase of sampleString = "Lorem ipsumxxxolor sit". I can't use stringtext = replace(stringtext, "x", " x ") as the output becomes Lorem ipsum x x x olor sit instead of the desired result Lorem ipsu xxx lor sit. I can use replace(stringtext, "xxx", " xxx ") but that would cause me to use multiple conditions instead of one single solution.
Is there an efficient way to deal with this?
Thank you!

Answer 1

efficient
Private Function SpaceOutExes(ByVal s As String) As String
SpaceOutExes = s
Dim i As Long
Dim PrevCharIsX As Boolean
PrevCharIsX = Left$(SpaceOutExes, 1) = "x"
For i = 2 To Len(SpaceOutExes)
If Mid$(SpaceOutExes, i, 1) = "x" Then
If Not PrevCharIsX Then Mid$(SpaceOutExes, i - 1, 1) = " "
PrevCharIsX = True
Else
If PrevCharIsX Then Mid$(SpaceOutExes, i, 1) = " "
PrevCharIsX = False
End If
Next
End Function
Dim sampleString As String
sampleString = "Lorem ipsumxolor sit"
Debug.Print SpaceOutExes(sampleString)

Answer 2

You need to cut the original string in pieces and put it together the way you like:
Option Explicit
Public Sub StringExample()
Dim SampleString As String
SampleString = "Lorem ipsumxolor sit"
Dim FoundPosition As Long
FoundPosition = InStr(SampleString, "x")
Dim ResultString As String
ResultString = Left$(SampleString, FoundPosition - 2) & " " & Mid$(SampleString, FoundPosition, 1) & " " & Mid$(SampleString, FoundPosition + 2)
End Sub
Output is then
Lorem ipsu x lor sit
Or for multiple x:
Public Sub StringExampleMulti()
Const Delimiter As String = "x"
Dim SampleString As String
SampleString = "Lorem ipsumxxxolor sit amxet, conse!"
Dim Splitted() As String
Splitted = Split(SampleString, "x")
Dim ResultString As String
Dim i As Long
For i = LBound(Splitted) To UBound(Splitted)
If Splitted(i) <> vbNullString Then
If i = LBound(Splitted) Then
ResultString = Left$(Splitted(i), Len(Splitted(i)) - 1) & " " & Delimiter
ElseIf i = UBound(Splitted) Then
ResultString = ResultString & Delimiter & " " & Right$(Splitted(i), Len(Splitted(i)) - 1)
Else
ResultString = ResultString & " " & Mid$(Splitted(i), 2, Len(Splitted(i)) - 2) & " "
End If
Else
ResultString = ResultString & Delimiter
End If
Next i
Debug.Print ResultString
End Sub
outputs:
Lorem ipsu xxx lor sit a x t, conse!