QString replace only first occurrence

You could try this:

QString str("this is a string"); // The initial string.
QString subStr("is"); // String to replace.
QString newStr("at"); // Replacement string.

str.replace(str.indexOf(subStr), subStr.size(), newStr);

Resulting string will be:

that at a string

There is no convenience method for the operation you wish to have. However, you can use the following two methods to build your custom operation:

int QString::indexOf(const QString & str, int from = 0, Qt::CaseSensitivity cs = Qt::CaseSensitive) const

Returns the index position of the first occurrence of the string str in this string, searching forward from index position from. Returns -1 if str is not found.

If cs is Qt::CaseSensitive (default), the search is case sensitive; otherwise the search is case insensitive.

and

QString & QString::replace(int position, int n, const QString & after)

Replaces n characters beginning at index position with the string after and returns a reference to this string.

Note: If the specified position index is within the string, but position + n goes outside the strings range, then n will be adjusted to stop at the end of the string.

Now, putting all that into practice, you could write something as follows:

main.cpp

#include <QString>
#include <QDebug>

int main()
{
    QString initialString = QLatin1String("foo bar baz");
    QString fooString = QLatin1String("foo");
    initialString.replace(initialString.indexOf(fooString),
                          fooString.size(), QLatin1String("stuff"));
    qDebug() << initialString;
    return 0;
}

main.pro

TEMPLATE = app                                         
TARGET = main                                              
QT = core                                              
SOURCES += main.cpp

Build and Run

qmake && make && ./main

Output

"stuff bar baz"