I can use the string replacement feature of my text editor to replace x with y, but if I only want to rename instances of the variable x to y, that will make more changes than I want. Does anyone know of a Python script to rename variables?
Many IDEs can do this. For example, in VSCode this feature is called “rename symbol”, and is available through right-clicking on the variable you want to rename.
For a more general solution, do not give your variables single-letter names.
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The text editor I use does not have the ability to rename variables, so I would still like a Python script that does so. In my codes I use one-letter variable names only for array subscripts.
@abessman is not talking about a text editor; he’s taliking about an IDE, of which there are many.
To name but two:
That said, even a basic text editor (well, one worth the trouble of using, least ways) should have a ‘find and replace’ feature, so that you can selectively replace what has been found.
IDLE has a selective find and replace, so use that or something at least as good. You hit the find key and either the replace key or not before hitting find again.
It seems very rare that text editor could not handle this basic operation. What editor it is?
As example: in Vim to substitute all ‘words’ x to ‘word’ y is :%s/\<x\>/y/ . This will not substitute letter x in text generally, only when its a separate word.