# splicetext proc

Source: https://ref.dm-lang.org/proc/splicetext
Added in BYOND 514.

### Format
> `splicetext(Text,Start=1,End=0,Insert="")`

### Returns
> Spliced text

### Args
- `Text`: The text string to splice.
- `Start`: The text byte position in Text where the splice will begin.
- `End`: The text byte position in Text immediately following the last character to be cut from the splice. 0 is the end of the string.
- `Insert`: Text to be inserted.


Cuts out a section of a text string and inserts a different piece of text in its place. This is basically equivalent to `copytext(Text,1,Start) + Insert + copytext(Text,End)`, but faster.

```dm /splicetext/
// cuts "nan" from "banana" and replaces it with "laclav"
// prints "balaclava"
usr << splicetext("banana", 3, 6, "laclav")
```

The `Start` and `End` index values can be negative, which count backwards from the end of the string. If the index values are out of range, there will be no error; they will simply be clamped to the beginning or end of the string. If `End` comes before `Start`, the two values are swapped.

> [!note]
> 
> In strings containing non-ASCII characters, byte position and character position are not the same thing. Use `splicetext_char()` to work with character counts instead of bytes, at a performance cost. See the [Unicode](https://ref.dm-lang.org/notes/Unicode.md) section for more information.

### See also
- [copytext proc](https://ref.dm-lang.org/proc/copytext.md)
- [Splice proc (list)](https://ref.dm-lang.org/list/proc/Splice.md)