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For SetDelayed, the kernel first makes the substitution literally, then does the further evaluation process if necessary.

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I always think of SetDelayed and related functions as global rule-replacing, in contrary to the local rule-replacing, namely, ReplaceAll. However, such symmetry does not correspond so parallelly.

x + x + x + x /. x -> 3

The kernel first evaluates the left hand side expression to 4 x, then applys the substitution. So my question occurs, is there a simple build-in mechanism that literally substitutes first, then does the possible further evaluation latter? If not, what is the easy and elegant way to do it by ourselves?

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2 Answers 2

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Another way:

Unevaluated[x + x + x + x] /. x -> 3
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A couple possibilities:

Trace @ With[{x = 3}, x + x + x + x]

{With[{x=3},x+x+x+x],3+3+3+3,12}

Trace @ ReleaseHold[Hold[x + x + x + x] /. x->3]

{{{x->3,x->3},Hold[x+x+x+x]/. x->3,Hold[3+3+3+3]},ReleaseHold[Hold[3+3+3+3]],3+3+3+3,12}

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