google sheets - replace the second letter in a cell - google-apps-script

Question

Is there a way I can replace the 2nd character in a cell with an asterisk(*)?
Something like this:
var name = publicWinners.getRange(i, 1);
name.setValue( → 2nd character = "*" ← );
I want to create a list of winners in a contest that can be posted publicly with the winners' personal information partially hidden.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Answer 1

Use String.replace :
/*<ignore>*/console.config({maximize:true,timeStamps:false,autoScroll:false});/*</ignore>*/
const str = "John Doe";
const output = str.replace(/(.{1})./,"$1*");
console.info(output);
<!-- https://meta.stackoverflow.com/a/375985/ --> <script src="https://gh-canon.github.io/stack-snippet-console/console.min.js"></script>
. - Any character
(.{1}) - Any character repeated 1 time. {1} may be removed, but used to quantify previous characters, if you want to replace the third or fourth character. Capture group$1
. - Final character to replace with *

Answer 2

You can use the split() and join() methods to manipulate the string.
/**
* Replace a character of a string with a new character at the specified position.
* #param {string} word - The word to modify.
* #param {number} index - The character index to modify. Starts from zero.
* #param {string} newChar - The new character that will overwrite the existing character.
* #returns {string}
*/
function replaceCharAt(word, index, newChar) {
return word.split('').map(function(char, charIndex) {
if (charIndex == index) {
return newChar;
}
return char;
}).join('');
}
A simple test you can run:
var originals = [
'Sangmyeong',
'Jaedong',
'Sangjin',
'Gueho'
];
originals.forEach(original => console.log(replaceCharAt(original, 1, '*'))); // [S*ngmyeong, J*edong, S*ngjin, G*eho]
function replaceCharAt(word, index, newChar) {
return word.split('').map(function(char, charIndex) {
if (charIndex == index) {
return newChar;
}
return char;
}).join('');
}