Amazon Redshift will no longer support the creation of new Python UDFs starting Patch 198. Existing Python UDFs will continue to function until June 30, 2026. For more information, see the [ blog post ](https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/big-data/amazon-redshift-python-user-defined-functions-will-reach-end-of-support-after-june-30-2026/). 

# REPLACE function
<a name="r_REPLACE"></a>

Replaces all occurrences of a set of characters within an existing string with other specified characters. 

REPLACE is similar to the [TRANSLATE function](r_TRANSLATE.md) and the [REGEXP\$1REPLACE function](REGEXP_REPLACE.md), except that TRANSLATE makes multiple single-character substitutions and REGEXP\$1REPLACE lets you search a string for a regular expression pattern, while REPLACE substitutes one entire string with another string.

## Syntax
<a name="r_REPLACE-synopsis"></a>

```
REPLACE(string, old_chars, new_chars)
```

## Arguments
<a name="r_REPLACE-arguments"></a>

 *string*   
`CHAR` or `VARCHAR` string to be searched search 

 *old\$1chars*   
`CHAR` or `VARCHAR` string to replace. 

 *new\$1chars*   
New `CHAR` or `VARCHAR` string replacing the *old\$1string*. 

## Return type
<a name="r_REPLACE-return-type"></a>

VARCHAR  
If either *old\$1chars* or *new\$1chars* is `NULL`, the return is `NULL`. 

## Examples
<a name="r_REPLACE-examples"></a>

The following example uses data from the CATEGORY table in the TICKIT sample database. For more information, see [Sample database](c_sampledb.md). 

To convert the string `Shows` to `Theatre` in the CATGROUP field, use the following example. 

```
SELECT catid, catgroup, REPLACE(catgroup, 'Shows', 'Theatre')
FROM category
ORDER BY 1,2,3;

+-------+----------+----------+
| catid | catgroup | replace  |
+-------+----------+----------+
|     1 | Sports   | Sports   |
|     2 | Sports   | Sports   |
|     3 | Sports   | Sports   |
|     4 | Sports   | Sports   |
|     5 | Sports   | Sports   |
|     6 | Shows    | Theatre  |
|     7 | Shows    | Theatre  |
|     8 | Shows    | Theatre  |
|     9 | Concerts | Concerts |
|    10 | Concerts | Concerts |
|    11 | Concerts | Concerts |
+-------+----------+----------+
```