Comparison of programming languages (string functions)
String functions are used in computer programming languages to manipulate a string or query information about a string (some do both).
Most programming languages that have a string datatype will have some string functions although there may be other low-level ways within each language to handle strings directly. In object-oriented languages, string functions are often implemented as properties and methods of string objects. In functional and list-based languages a string is represented as a list (of character codes), therefore all list-manipulation procedures could be considered string functions. However such languages may implement a subset of explicit string-specific functions as well.
For function that manipulate strings, modern object-oriented languages, like C# and Java have immutable strings and return a copy (in newly allocated dynamic memory), while others, like C manipulate the original string unless the programmer copies data to a new string. See for example Concatenation below.
The most basic example of a string function is the length(string)
function. This function returns the length of a string literal.
- e.g.
length("hello world")
would return 11.
Other languages may have string functions with similar or exactly the same syntax or parameters or outcomes. For example, in many languages the length function is usually represented as len(string). The below list of common functions aims to help limit this confusion.
Common string functions (multi language reference)
String functions common to many languages are listed below, including the different names used. The below list of common functions aims to help programmers find the equivalent function in a language. Note, string concatenation and regular expressions are handled in separate pages. Statements in guillemets (« … ») are optional.
CharAt
Definition | charAt(string,integer) returns character. |
---|---|
Description | Returns character at index in the string. |
Equivalent | See substring of length 1 character. |
Format | Languages | Base index |
---|---|---|
string[i] |
ALGOL 68, Pascal, Object Pascal (Delphi), Seed7 | 1 |
string[i] |
C, C++, C#, Cobra, D, FreeBASIC, Go, Python,[1] PHP, Ruby,[1] Windows PowerShell, JavaScript, Ya | 0 |
string{i} |
PHP (deprecated in 5.3) | 0 |
string(i) |
Ada | ≥1 |
Mid(string,i,1) |
VB | 1 |
MID$(string,i,1) |
BASIC | 1 |
string.Chars(i) |
VB.NET | 0 |
string(i:i) |
Fortran | 1 |
string.charAt(i) |
Java, JavaScript | 0 |
string.[i] |
OCaml, F# | 0 |
String.sub (string, i) |
Standard ML | 0 |
string !! i |
Haskell | 0 |
(string-ref string i) |
Scheme | 0 |
(char string i) |
Common Lisp | 0 |
(elt string i) |
ISLISP | 0 |
(get string i) |
Clojure | 0 |
substr(string, i, 1) |
Perl[1] | 0 |
substr(string, i, 1) |
PL/I | 1 |
string.at(i) |
C++ (STL) (w/ bounds checking) | 0 |
lists:nth(i, string) |
Erlang | 1 |
[string characterAtIndex:i] |
Objective-C (NSString * only) |
0 |
string.sub(string, i, i) |
Lua[1] | 1 |
string at: i |
Smalltalk (w/ bounds checking) | 1 |
string index string i |
Tcl | 0 |
StringTake[string, {i}] |
Mathematica, Wolfram Language[1] | 1 |
string@i |
Eiffel | 1 |
string (i:1) |
COBOL | 1 |
{ Example in Pascal }
var
MyStr: string = 'Hello, World';
MyChar: Char;
begin
MyChar := MyStr[2]; // 'e'
# Example in ALGOL 68 # "Hello, World"[2]; // 'e'
// Example in C# and Ya
"Hello, World"[2]; // 'l'
# Examples in Python
"Hello, World"[2] # 'l'
"Hello, World"[-3] # 'r'
' Example in Visual Basic
Mid("Hello, World",2,1)
' Example in Visual Basic .NET
"Hello, World".Chars(2) ' "l"c
" Example in Smalltalk "
'Hello, World' at: 2. "$e"
Compare (integer result)
Definition | compare(string1,string2) returns integer. |
---|---|
Description | Compares two strings to each other. If they are equivalent, a zero is returned. Otherwise, most of these routines will return a positive or negative result corresponding to whether string1 is lexicographically greater than, or less than, respectively, than string2. The exceptions are the Scheme and Rexx routines which return the index of the first mismatch, and Smalltalk which answer a comparison code telling how the receiver sorts relative to string parameter. |
Format | Languages |
---|---|
IF string1<string2 THEN -1 ELSE ABS (string1>string2) FI |
ALGOL 68 |
cmp(string1, string2) |
Python 2 |
(string1 > string2) - (string1 < string2) |
Python |
strcmp(string1, string2) |
C, PHP |
std.string.cmp(string1, string2) |
D |
StrComp(string1, string2) |
VB, Object Pascal (Delphi) |
string1 cmp string2 |
Perl |
string1 compare: string2 |
Smalltalk (Squeak, Pharo) |
string1 <=> string2 |
Ruby |
string1.compare(string2) |
C++ (STL), Swift (Foundation) |
compare(string1, string2) |
Rexx, Seed7 |
CompareStr(string1, string2) |
Pascal, Object Pascal (Delphi) |
string1.compareTo(string2) |
Cobra, Java |
string1.CompareTo(string2) |
VB .NET, C#, F# |
(compare string1 string2) |
Clojure |
(string= string1 string2) |
Common Lisp |
(string-compare string1 string2 p< p= p>) |
Scheme (SRFI 13) |
(string= string1 string2) |
ISLISP |
compare string1 string2 |
OCaml |
String.compare (string1, string2) |
Standard ML [2] |
compare string1 string2 |
Haskell [3] |
[string]::Compare(string1, string2) |
Windows PowerShell |
[string1 compare:string2] |
Objective-C (NSString * only) |
LLT(string1,string2) |
Fortran [4] |
string1.localeCompare(string2) |
JavaScript |
bytes.Compare([]byte(string1), []byte(string2)) |
Go |
string compare ?-nocase? ?-length int? string1 string2 |
Tcl |
compare(string1,string2,count) |
PL/I[5] |
# Example in Python
cmp("hello", "world") # returns -1
/** Example in Rexx */
compare("hello", "world") /* returns index of mismatch: 1 */
; Example in Scheme
(use-modules (srfi srfi-13))
; returns index of mismatch: 0
(string-compare "hello" "world" values values values)
Compare (relational operator-based, Boolean result)
Definition | string1 OP string2 OR (compare string1 string2) returns Boolean. |
---|---|
Description | Lexicographically compares two strings using a relational operator or function. Boolean result returned. |
Format | Languages |
---|---|
string1 OP string2 , where OP can be any of =, <>, <, >, <= and >= |
Pascal, Object Pascal (Delphi), OCaml, Seed7, Standard ML, BASIC, VB, VB .NET, F# |
string1 OP string2 , where OP can be any of =, /=, ≠, <, >, <=, ≤ and ≥ ; Also: EQ, NE, LT, LE, GE and GT |
ALGOL 68 |
(stringOP? string1 string2) , where OP can be any of =, -ci=, <, -ci<, >, -ci>, <=, -ci<=, >= and -ci>= (operators starting with '-ci ' are case-insensitive) |
Scheme |
(stringOP string1 string2) , where OP can be any of =, -ci=, <>, -ci<>, <, -ci<, >, -ci>, <=, -ci<=, >= and -ci>= (operators starting with '-ci ' are case-insensitive) |
Scheme (SRFI 13) |
(stringOP string1 string2) , where OP can be any of =, -equal, /=, -not-equal, <, -lessp, >, -greaterp, <=, -not-greaterp, >= and -not-lessp (the verbal operators are case-insensitive) |
Common Lisp |
(stringOP string1 string2) , where OP can be any of =, /=, <, >, <=, and >= |
ISLISP |
string1 OP string2 , where OP can be any of =, \=, <, >, <= and >= |
Rexx |
string1 OP string2 , where OP can be any of =, ¬=, <, >, <=, >=, ¬< and ¬> |
PL/I |
string1 OP string2 , where OP can be any of =, /=, <, >, <= and >= |
Ada |
string1 OP string2 , where OP can be any of ==, /=, <, >, =< and >= |
Erlang |
string1 OP string2 , where OP can be any of ==, /=, <, >, <= and >= |
Haskell |
string1 OP string2 , where OP can be any of eq, ne, lt, gt, le and ge |
Perl |
string1 OP string2 , where OP can be any of ==, !=, <, >, <= and >= |
C++ (STL), C#, D, Go, JavaScript, Python, PHP, Ruby, Swift, Ya |
string1 OP string2 , where OP can be any of -eq, -ceq, -ne, -cne, -lt, -clt, -gt, -cgt, -le, -cle, -ge, and -cge (operators starting with 'c ' are case-sensitive) |
Windows PowerShell |
string1 OP string2 , where OP can be any of ==, ~=, <, >, <= and >= |
Lua |
string1 OP string2 , where OP can be any of =, ~=, <, >, <= and >= |
Smalltalk |
string1 OP string2 , where OP can be any of ==, /=, <, >, <= and >=; Also: .EQ., .NE., .LT., .LE., .GT. and .GE. |
Fortran.[6] |
string1 OP string2 where OP can be any of =, <>, <, >, <=, >= as well as worded equivalents |
COBOL |
string1 OP string2 where OP can be any of ==, <>, <, >, <= and >= |
Cobra |
string1 OP string2 is available in the syntax, but means comparison of the pointers pointing to the strings, not of the string contents. Use the Compare (integer result) function. |
C, Java |
% Example in Erlang
"hello" > "world". % returns false
# Example in Windows PowerShell
"hello" -gt "world" # returns false
;; Example in Common Lisp
(string> "art" "painting") ; returns nil
(string< "art" "painting") ; returns non nil
Concatenation
Definition | concatenate(string1,string2) returns string. |
---|---|
Description | Concatenates (joins) two strings to each other, returning the combined string. Note that some languages like C have mutable strings, so really the second string is being appended to the first string and the mutated string is returned. |
Format | Languages |
---|---|
string1 & string2 |
Ada, FreeBASIC, Seed7, BASIC, VB, VB .NET, COBOL (between literals only) |
strcat(string1, string2) |
C, C++ (char * only)[7] |
string1 . string2 |
Perl, PHP |
string1 + string2 |
ALGOL 68, C++ (STL), C#, Cobra, FreeBASIC, Go, Pascal, Object Pascal (Delphi), Java, JavaScript, Windows PowerShell, Python, Ruby, Rust, F#, Swift, Turing, VB, Ya |
string1 ~ string2 |
D |
(string-append string1 string2) |
Scheme, ISLISP |
(concatenate 'string string1 string2) |
Common Lisp |
(str string1 string2) |
Clojure |
string1 || string2 |
Rexx, SQL, PL/I |
string1 // string2 |
Fortran |
string1 ++ string2 |
Erlang, Haskell |
string1 ^ string2 |
OCaml, Standard ML, F# |
[string1 stringByAppendingString:string2] |
Objective-C (NSString * only) |
string1 .. string2 |
Lua |
string1 , string2 |
Smalltalk |
string1 string2 |
SNOBOL |
string1string2 |
Bash shell |
string1 <> string2 |
Mathematica |
concat string1 string2 | Tcl |
{ Example in Pascal }
'abc' + 'def'; // returns "abcdef"
// Example in C#
"abc" + "def"; // returns "abcdef"
' Example in Visual Basic
"abc" & "def" ' returns "abcdef"
"abc" + "def" ' returns "abcdef"
"abc" & Null ' returns "abc"
"abc" + Null ' returns Null
// Example in D
"abc" ~ "def"; // returns "abcdef"
;; Example in common lisp
(concatenate 'string "abc " "def " "ghi") ; returns "abc def ghi"
Contains
Definition | contains(string,substring) returns boolean |
---|---|
Description | Returns whether string contains substring as a substring. This is equivalent to using Find and then detecting that it does not result in the failure condition listed in the third column of the Find section. However, some languages have a simpler way of expressing this test. |
Related | Find |
Format | Languages |
---|---|
string_in_string(string, loc int, substring) |
ALGOL 68 |
ContainsStr(string, substring) |
Object Pascal (Delphi) |
strstr(string, substring) != NULL |
C, C++ (char * only) |
string.Contains(substring) |
C#, VB .NET, Windows PowerShell, F# |
string.contains(substring) |
Cobra, Java (1.5+) |
string.indexOf(substring) >= 0 |
JavaScript |
strpos(string, substring) !== false |
PHP |
pos(string, substring) <> 0 |
Seed7 |
substring in string |
Cobra, Python (2.3+) |
string.find(string, substring) ~= nil |
Lua |
string.include?(substring) |
Ruby |
Data.List.isInfixOf substring string |
Haskell (GHC 6.6+) |
string includesSubstring: substring |
Smalltalk (Squeak, Pharo, Smalltalk/X) |
String.isSubstring substring string |
Standard ML |
(search substring string) |
Common Lisp |
(not (null (string-index substring string))) |
ISLISP |
(substring? substring string) |
Clojure |
! StringFreeQ[string, substring] |
Mathematica |
index(string, substring, startpos)>0 |
Fortran, PL/I[8] |
strings.Contains(string, substring) |
Go |
string.find(substring) != string::npos |
C++ |
[string containsString:substring] |
Objective-C (NSString * only, iOS 8+/OS X 10.10+) |
string.rangeOfString(substring) != nil |
Swift (Foundation) |
¢ Example in ALGOL 68 ¢ string in string("e", loc int, "Hello mate"); ¢ returns true ¢ string in string("z", loc int, "word"); ¢ returns false ¢
// Example In C#
"Hello mate".Contains("e"); // returns true
"word".Contains("z"); // returns false
# Example in Python
"e" in "Hello mate" # returns true
"z" in "word" # returns false
" Example in Smalltalk "
'Hello mate' includesSubstring: 'e' " returns true "
'word' includesSubstring: 'z' " returns false "
Equality
Tests if two strings are equal. See also #Compare and #Compare. Note that doing equality checks via a generic Compare with integer result is not only confusing for the programmer but is often a significantly more expensive operation; this is especially true when using "C-strings".
Format | Languages |
---|---|
string1 == string2 |
Python, C++ (STL), C#, Cobra, Go, JavaScript (similarity), PHP (similarity), Ruby, Erlang, Haskell, Lua, D, Mathematica, Swift, Ya |
string1 === string2 |
JavaScript, PHP |
string1 == string2 or |
Fortran |
strcmp(string1, string2) == 0 |
C |
(string=? string1 string2) |
Scheme |
(string= string1 string2) |
Common Lisp, ISLISP |
string1 = string2 |
ALGOL 68, Ada, Object Pascal (Delphi), OCaml, Pascal, Rexx, Seed7, Standard ML, BASIC, VB, VB .NET, F#, Smalltalk, PL/I, COBOL |
test string1 = string2, or |
Bourne Shell |
string1 eq string2 |
Perl |
string1.equals(string2) |
Cobra, Java |
string1.Equals(string2) |
C# |
string1 -eq string2, or |
Windows PowerShell |
[string1 isEqualToString:string2], or |
Objective-C (NSString * only) |
// Example in C#
"hello" == "world" // returns false
' Example in Visual Basic
"hello" = "world" ' returns false
# Example in Windows PowerShell
"hello" -eq "world" # returns false
Find
Definition | find(string,substring) returns integer |
---|---|
Description | Returns the position of the start of the first occurrence of substring in string. If the substring is not found most of these routines return an invalid index value – -1 where indexes are 0-based, 0 where they are 1-based – or some value to be interpreted as Boolean FALSE. |
Related | instrrev |
Format | Languages | If not found |
---|---|---|
string in string(substring, pos, string[startpos:]) |
ALGOL 68 | returns BOOL: TRUE or FALSE, and position in REF INT pos. |
InStr(«startpos,»string,substring) |
VB (positions start at 1) | returns 0 |
INSTR$(string,substring) |
BASIC (positions start at 1) | returns 0 |
index(string,substring) |
AWK | returns 0 |
index(string,substring«,startpos») |
Perl | returns −1 |
instr(«startpos,»string,substring) |
FreeBASIC | returns 0 |
strpos(string,substring«,startpos») |
PHP | returns FALSE |
locate(string, substring) |
Ingres | returns string length + 1 |
strstr(string, substring) |
C, C++ (char * only, returns pointer to first character) |
returns NULL |
std.string.indexOf(string, substring) |
D | returns −1 |
pos(string, substring«, startpos») |
Seed7 | returns 0 |
strings.Index(string, substring) |
Go | returns −1 |
pos(substring, string) |
Pascal, Object Pascal (Delphi) | returns 0 |
pos(substring, string«,startpos») |
Rexx | returns 0 |
string.find(substring«,startpos») |
C++ (STL) | returns std::string::npos |
string.find(substring«,startpos«,endpos»») |
Python | returns −1 |
string.index(substring«,startpos«,endpos»») |
raises ValueError | |
string.index(substring«,startpos») |
Ruby | returns nil |
string.indexOf(substring«,startpos») |
Java, JavaScript | returns −1 |
string.IndexOf(substring«,startpos«, charcount»») |
VB .NET, C#, Windows PowerShell, F# | returns −1 |
string:str(string, substring) |
Erlang | returns 0 |
(string-contains string substring) |
Scheme (SRFI 13) | returns #f |
(search substring string) |
Common Lisp | returns NIL |
(string-index substring string) |
ISLISP | returns nil |
List.findIndex (List.isPrefixOf substring) (List.tails string) |
Haskell (returns Just index) | returns Nothing |
Str.search_forward (Str.regexp_string substring) string 0 |
OCaml | raises Not_found |
Substring.size (#1 (Substring.position substring (Substring.full string))) |
Standard ML | returns string length |
[string rangeOfString:substring].location |
Objective-C (NSString * only) |
returns NSNotFound |
string.find(string, substring) |
Lua | returns nil |
string indexOfSubCollection: substring startingAt: startpos ifAbsent: aBlock |
Smalltalk (Squeak, Pharo) | evaluate aBlock which is a block closure (or any object understanding value) returns 0 |
startpos = INDEX(string, substring «,back» «, kind») |
Fortran | returns 0 if substring is not in string; returns LEN(string)+1 if substring is empty |
POSITION(substring IN string) |
SQL | returns 0 (positions start at 1) |
index(string, substring, startpos ) |
PL/I[8] | returns 0 (positions start at 1) |
string.indexOf(substring«,startpos«, charcount»») |
Cobra | returns −1 |
string first substring string startpos | Tcl | returns −1 |
; Examples in Common Lisp
(search "e" "Hello mate") ; returns 1
(search "z" "word") ; returns NIL
// Examples in C#
"Hello mate".IndexOf("e"); // returns 1
"Hello mate".IndexOf("e", 4); // returns 9
"word".IndexOf("z"); // returns -1
; Examples in Scheme
(use-modules (srfi srfi-13))
(string-contains "Hello mate" "e") ; returns 1
(string-contains "word" "z") ; returns #f
' Examples in Visual Basic
InStr("Hello mate", "e") ' returns 2
InStr(5, "Hello mate", "e") ' returns 10
InStr("word", "z") ' returns 0
" Examples in Smalltalk "
'Hello mate' indexOfSubCollection:'ate' "returns 8"
'Hello mate' indexOfSubCollection:'late' "returns 0"
I'Hello mate'
indexOfSubCollection:'late'
ifAbsent:[ 99 ] "returns 99"
'Hello mate'
indexOfSubCollection:'late'
ifAbsent:[ self error ] "raises an exception"
Find character
Definition | find_character(string,char) returns integer |
---|---|
Description | Returns the position of the start of the first occurrence of the character char in string. If the character is not found most of these routines return an invalid index value – -1 where indexes are 0-based, 0 where they are 1-based – or some value to be interpreted as Boolean FALSE. This can be accomplished as a special case of #Find, with a string of one character; but it may be simpler or more efficient in many languages to locate just one character. Also, in many languages, characters and strings are different types, so it is convenient to have such a function. |
Related | find |
Format | Languages | If not found |
---|---|---|
char in string(char, pos, string[startpos:]) |
ALGOL 68 | returns BOOL: TRUE or FALSE, and position in REF INT pos. |
instr(string, any char«,startpos») (char, can contain more them one char, in which case the position of the first appearance of any of them is returned.) |
FreeBASIC | returns 0 |
strchr(string,char) |
C, C++ (char * only, returns pointer to character) |
returns NULL |
std.string.find(string, dchar) |
D | returns −1 |
string.find(char«,startpos») |
C++ (STL) | returns std::string::npos |
pos(string, char«, startpos») |
Seed7 | returns 0 |
strings.IndexRune(string,char) |
Go | returns −1 |
string.indexOf(char«,startpos») |
Java, JavaScript | returns −1 |
string.IndexOf(char«,startpos«, charcount»») |
VB .NET, C#, Windows PowerShell, F# | returns −1 |
(position char string) |
Common Lisp | returns NIL |
(char-index char string) |
ISLISP | returns nil |
List.elemIndex char string |
Haskell (returns Just index) | returns Nothing |
String.index string char |
OCaml | raises Not_found |
position = SCAN (string, set «, back» «, kind») or |
Fortran | returns zero |
string indexOf: char ifAbsent: aBlock |
Smalltalk | evaluate aBlock which is a BlockClosure (or any object understanding value) returns 0 returns true or false |
index(string, char, startpos ) |
PL/I[9] | returns 0 (positions start at 1) |
string.index(?char) |
Ruby | returns nil |
strpos(string,char,startpos) |
PHP | returns false |
string.indexOf(char«,startpos«, charcount»») |
Cobra | returns −1 |
// Examples in C#
"Hello mate".IndexOf('e'); // returns 1
"word".IndexOf('z') // returns -1
; Examples in Common Lisp
(position #\e "Hello mate") ; returns 1
(position #\z "word") ; returns NIL
^a Given a set of characters, SCAN returns the position of the first character found,[10] while VERIFY returns the position of the first character that does not belong to the set.[11]
Format
Definition | format(formatstring, items) returns string |
---|---|
Description | Returns the formatted string representation of one or more items. |
Format | Languages | Format string syntax |
---|---|---|
associate(file, string); putf(file, $formatstring$, items) |
ALGOL 68 | ALGOL |
Format(item, formatstring) |
VB |
|
sprintf(formatstring, items) |
Perl, PHP, Ruby | C |
io_lib:format(formatstring, items) |
Erlang |
|
sprintf(outputstring, formatstring, items) |
C | C |
std.string.format(formatstring, items) |
D | C |
Format(formatstring, items) |
Object Pascal (Delphi) |
|
fmt.Sprintf(formatstring, items) |
Go | C |
printf -v outputstring formatstring items |
Bash shell | C |
formatstring % (items) |
Python, Ruby | C |
formatstring.format(items) |
Python | .NET |
Printf.sprintf formatstring [12] items |
OCaml, F# | C |
Text.Printf.printf formatstring items |
Haskell (GHC) | C |
formatstring printf: items |
Smalltalk | C |
String.format(formatstring, items) |
Java | C |
String.Format(formatstring, items) |
VB .NET, C#, F# | .NET |
(format formatstring items) |
Scheme (SRFI 28) | Lisp |
(format nil formatstring items) |
Common Lisp | Lisp |
(format formatstring items) |
Clojure | Lisp |
formatstring -f items |
Windows PowerShell | .NET |
[NSString stringWithFormat:formatstring, items] |
Objective-C (NSString * only) |
C |
String(format:formatstring, items) |
Swift (Foundation) | C |
string.format(formatstring, items) |
Lua | C |
WRITE (outputstring, formatstring) items |
Fortran | Fortran |
put string(string) edit(items)(format) |
PL/I | PL/I (similar to Fortran) |
String.format(formatstring, items) |
Cobra | .NET |
format formatstring items | Tcl | C |
// Example in C#
String.Format("My {0} costs {1:C2}", "pen", 19.99); // returns "My pen costs $19.99"
// Example in Object Pascal (Delphi)
Format('My %s costs $%2f', ['pen', 19.99]); // returns "My pen costs $19.99"
// Example in Java
String.format("My %s costs $%2f", "pen", 19.99); // returns "My pen costs $19.99"
# Example in Python
"My %s costs $%.2f" % ("pen", 19.99); # returns "My pen costs $19.99"
"My {0} costs ${1:.2f}".format("pen", 19.99); # returns "My pen costs $19.99"
; Example in Scheme
(format "My ~a costs $~1,2F" "pen" 19.99) ; returns "My pen costs $19.99"
/* example in PL/I */ put string(some_string) edit('My ', 'pen', ' costs', 19.99)(a,a,a,p'$$$V.99') /* returns "My pen costs $19.99" */
Inequality
Tests if two strings are not equal. See also #Equality.
Format | Languages |
---|---|
string1 ne string2, or string1 NE string2 |
ALGOL 68 – note: the operator "ne" is literally in bold type-font. |
string1 /= string2 |
ALGOL 68, Ada, Erlang, Fortran, Haskell |
string1 <> string2 |
BASIC, VB, VB .NET, Pascal, Object Pascal (Delphi), OCaml, PHP, Seed7, Standard ML, F#, COBOL, Cobra, Python 2 (deprecated) |
string1 # string2 |
BASIC (some implementations) |
string1 ne string2 |
Perl |
(string<> string1 string2) |
Scheme (SRFI 13) |
(string/= string1 string2) |
Common Lisp |
(string/= string1 string2) |
ISLISP |
(not= string1 string2) |
Clojure |
string1 != string2 |
C++ (STL), C#, Go, JavaScript (not similar), PHP (not similar), Python, Ruby, Swift, D, Mathematica |
string1 !== string2 |
JavaScript, PHP |
string1 \= string2 |
Rexx |
string1 ¬= string2 |
PL/I |
test string1 != string2, or |
Bourne Shell |
string1 -ne string2, or |
Windows PowerShell |
string1 ~= string2 |
Lua, Smalltalk |
// Example in C#
"hello" != "world" // returns true
' Example in Visual Basic
"hello" <> "world" ' returns true
;; Example in Clojure
(not= "hello" "world") ; ⇒ true
# Example in Windows PowerShell
"hello" -ne "world" # returns true
index
see #Find
indexof
see #Find
instr
see #Find
instrrev
see #rfind
join
Definition | join(separator, list_of_strings) returns a list of strings joined with a separator |
---|---|
Description | Joins the list of strings into a new string, with the separator string between each of the substrings. Opposite of split. |
Related | sprintf |
Format | Languages |
---|---|
std.string.join(array_of_strings, separator) |
D |
string:join(list_of_strings, separator) |
Erlang |
join(separator, list_of_strings) |
Perl, PHP |
implode(separator, array_of_strings) |
PHP |
separator.join(sequence_of_strings) |
Python, Swift 1.x |
array_of_strings.join(separator) |
Ruby, JavaScript |
(string-join array_of_strings separator) |
Scheme (SRFI 13) |
(format nil "~{~a~^separator~}" array_of_strings) |
Common Lisp |
(clojure.string/join separator list_of_strings)
|
Clojure |
strings.Join(array_of_strings, separator) |
Go |
join(array_of_strings, separator) |
Seed7 |
String.concat separator list_of_strings |
OCaml |
String.concatWith separator list_of_strings |
Standard ML |
Data.List.intercalate separator list_of_strings |
Haskell (GHC 6.8+) |
Join(array_of_strings, separator) |
VB |
String.Join(separator, array_of_strings) |
VB .NET, C#, F# |
String.join(separator, array_of_strings) |
Java 8+ |
&{$OFS=$separator; "$array_of_strings"}, or |
Windows PowerShell |
[array_of_strings componentsJoinedByString:separator] |
Objective-C (NSString * only) |
table.concat(table_of_strings, separator) |
Lua |
{|String streamContents: [ :stream | collectionOfAnything asStringOn: stream delimiter: separator ]
|
Smalltalk (Squeak, Pharo) |
array_of_strings.join(separator«, final_separator») |
Cobra |
sequence_of_strings.joinWithSeparator(separator) |
Swift 2.x |
// Example in C#
String.Join("-", {"a", "b", "c"}) // "a-b-c"
" Example in Smalltalk "
#('a' 'b' 'c') joinUsing: '-' " 'a-b-c' "
# Example in Perl
join( '-', ('a', 'b', 'c')); # 'a-b-c'
# Example in Python
"-".join(["a", "b", "c"]) # 'a-b-c'
# Example in Ruby
["a", "b", "c"].join("-") # 'a-b-c'
; Example in Scheme
(use-modules (srfi srfi-13))
(string-join '("a" "b" "c") "-") ; "a-b-c"
lastindexof
see #rfind
left
Definition | left(string,n) returns string |
---|---|
Description | Returns the left n part of a string. If n is greater than the length of the string then most implementations return the whole string (exceptions exist – see code examples). Note that for variable-length encodings such as UTF-8, UTF-16 or Shift-JIS, it can be necessary to remove string positions at the end, in order to avoid invalid strings. |
Format | Languages |
---|---|
string (string'First .. string'First + n - 1) |
Ada |
substr(string, 0, n) |
AWK (changes string), Perl, PHP |
LEFT$(string,n) |
BASIC, VB |
left(string,n) |
VB, FreeBASIC, Ingres |
strncpy(string2, string, n) |
C standard library |
string.substr(0,n) |
C++ (STL) |
[string substringToIndex:n] |
Objective-C (NSString * only) |
(apply str (take n string)) |
Clojure |
string[0 .. n] |
D[13] |
string:substr(string, start, length) |
Erlang |
(subseq string 0 n) |
Common Lisp |
string[:n] |
Cobra, Go, Python |
left(string,n «,padchar») |
Rexx, Erlang |
string[0, n] |
Ruby |
string[ .. n] |
Seed7 |
string.Substring(0,n) |
VB .NET, C#, Windows PowerShell, F# |
leftstr(string, n) |
Pascal, Object Pascal (Delphi) |
copy (string,1,n) |
Turbo Pascal |
string.substring(0,n) |
Java,[14] JavaScript |
(string-take string n) |
Scheme (SRFI 13) |
take n string |
Haskell |
String.extract (string, n, NONE) |
Standard ML |
String.sub string 0 n |
OCaml[15] |
string.[..n] |
F# |
string.sub(string, 1, n) |
Lua |
string first: n |
Smalltalk (Squeak, Pharo) |
string(:n) |
Fortran |
StringTake[string, n] |
Mathematica[16] |
string («FUNCTION» LENGTH(string) - n:n) |
COBOL |
string.substring(0, n) |
Cobra |
/* Examples in Rexx */
left("abcde", 3) /* returns "abc" */
left("abcde", 8) /* returns "abcde " */
left("abcde", 8, "*") /* returns "abcde***" */
; Examples in Scheme
(use-modules (srfi srfi-13))
(string-take "abcde", 3) ; returns "abc"
(string-take "abcde", 8) ; error
' Examples in Visual Basic
Left("sandroguidi", 3) ' returns "san"
Left("sandroguidi", 100) ' returns "sandroguidi"
// Examples in Ya
"abcde"[0..3] // returns "abc"
"abcde"[0..8] // returns "abcde"
len
see #length
length
Definition | length(string) returns an integer number |
---|---|
Description | Returns the length of a string (not counting the null terminator or any other of the string's internal structural information). An empty string returns a length of 0. |
Format | Returns | Languages |
---|---|---|
string'Length |
|
Ada |
UPB string |
|
ALGOL 68 |
length(string) |
|
Ingres, Perl, Pascal, Object Pascal (Delphi), Rexx, Seed7, SQL, PL/I |
len(string) |
|
BASIC, FreeBASIC, Python, Go |
length(string), string:len(string) |
|
Erlang |
Len(string) |
|
VB |
string.Length |
Number of 16-bit UTF-16-encoded blocks | VB .NET, C#, Windows PowerShell, F# |
string.size OR string.length |
Number of bytes[17] | Ruby |
strlen(string) |
Number of bytes | C, PHP |
string.length() |
|
C++ (STL) |
string.length |
|
Cobra, D, JavaScript |
string.length() |
Number of 16-bit UTF-16-encoded blocks | Java |
(string-length string) |
|
Scheme |
(length string) |
|
Common Lisp, ISLISP |
(count string) |
|
Clojure |
String.length string |
|
OCaml |
size string |
|
Standard ML |
length string |
Number of Unicode codepoints | Haskell |
string.length |
Number of 16-bit UTF-16-encoded blocks | Objective-C (NSString * only) |
string.characters.count |
Number of characters | Swift (2.x) |
count(string) |
Number of characters | Swift (1.2) |
countElements(string) |
Number of characters | Swift (1.0–1.1) |
string.len(string) |
|
Lua |
string size |
|
Smalltalk |
LEN(string), or LEN_TRIM(string) |
|
Fortran |
StringLength[string] |
|
Mathematica |
Length(string) or
|
number of bytes as $int+ |
Ya |
«FUNCTION» LENGTH(string) or
|
number of characters and number of bytes, respectively | COBOL |
string length string | a decimal string giving the number of characters | Tcl |
// Examples in C#
"hello".Length; // returns 5
"".Length; // returns 0
# Examples in Erlang
string:len("hello"). % returns 5
string:len(""). % returns 0
# Examples in Perl
length("hello"); # returns 5
length(""); # returns 0
' Examples in Visual Basic
Len("hello") ' returns 5
Len("") ' returns 0
//Examples in Objective-C
[@"hello" Length] //returns 5
[@"" Length] //returns 0
-- Examples in Lua
("hello"):len() -- returns 5
#"" -- returns 0
locate
see #Find
Lowercase
Definition | lowercase(string) returns string |
---|---|
Description | Returns the string in lower case. |
Format | Languages |
---|---|
LCase(string) |
VB |
lcase(string) |
FreeBASIC |
lc(string) |
Perl |
tolower(char) |
C[18] |
std.string.toLower(string) |
D |
transform(string.begin(), string.end(), result.begin(), ::tolower) [19] |
C++[20] |
lowercase(string) |
Object Pascal (Delphi) |
strtolower(string) |
PHP |
lower(string) |
Seed7 |
echo "string" | tr 'A-Z' 'a-z' |
Unix |
string.lower() |
Python |
string.downcase |
Ruby[21] |
strings.ToLower(string) |
Go |
(string-downcase string) |
Scheme (R6RS), Common Lisp |
(lower-case string) |
Clojure |
String.lowercase string |
OCaml |
String.map Char.toLower string |
Standard ML |
map Char.toLower string |
Haskell |
string.toLowerCase() |
Java, JavaScript |
to_lower(string) |
Erlang |
string.ToLower() |
VB .NET, C#, Windows PowerShell, F# |
string.lowercaseString |
Objective-C (NSString * only), Swift (Foundation) |
string.lower(string) |
Lua |
string asLowercase |
Smalltalk |
LOWER(string) |
SQL |
lowercase(string) |
PL/I[5] |
ToLowerCase[string] |
Mathematica |
«FUNCTION» LOWER-CASE(string) |
COBOL |
string.toLower |
Cobra |
string tolower string | Tcl |
// Example in C#
"Wiki means fast?".ToLower(); // "wiki means fast?"
; Example in Scheme
(use-modules (srfi srfi-13))
(string-downcase "Wiki means fast?") ; "wiki means fast?"
/* Example in C */
#include <ctype.h>
#include <stdio.h>
int main(void) {
char string[] = "Wiki means fast?";
int i;
for (i = 0; i < sizeof(string) - 1; ++i) {
/* transform characters in place, one by one */
string[i] = tolower(string[i]);
}
puts(string); /* "wiki means fast?" */
return 0;
}
mid
see #substring
partition
Definition | <string>.partition(separator) returns the sub-string before the separator; the separator; then the sub-string after the separator. |
---|---|
Description | Splits the given string by the separator and returns the three substrings that together make the original. |
Format | Languages |
---|---|
string.partition(separator) |
Python, Ruby(1.9+) |
lists:partition(pred, string) |
Erlang |
split /(separator)/, string, 2 |
Perl |
# Examples in Python
"Spam eggs spam spam and ham".partition('spam') # ('Spam eggs ', 'spam', ' spam and ham')
"Spam eggs spam spam and ham".partition('X') # ('Spam eggs spam spam and ham', "", "")
# Examples in Perl
split /(spam)/'Spam eggs spam spam and ham',2; # ('Spam eggs ', 'spam', ' spam and ham');
split /(X)/'Spam eggs spam spam and ham',2; # ('Spam eggs spam spam and ham');
replace
Definition | replace(string, find, replace) returns string |
---|---|
Description | Returns a string with find occurrences changed to replace. |
Format | Languages |
---|---|
changestr(find, string, replace) |
Rexx |
std.string.replace(string, find, replace) |
D |
Replace(string, find, replace) |
VB |
replace(string, find, replace) |
Seed7 |
string.Replace(find, replace) |
VB .NET, C#, F# |
str_replace(find, replace, string) |
PHP |
re:replace(string, find, replace, «{return, list}») |
Erlang |
string.replace(find, replace) |
Cobra, Python, Java (1.5+) |
string.replaceAll(find_regex, replace)[22] |
Java |
string.gsub(find, replace) |
Ruby |
string =~ s/find_regex/replace/g[22] |
Perl |
string.replace(find, replace, "g") [23] or |
JavaScript |
echo "string" | sed 's/find_regex/replace/g'[22] |
Unix |
string.replace(find, replace), or |
Windows PowerShell |
Str.global_replace (Str.regexp_string find) replace string |
OCaml |
[string stringByReplacingOccurrencesOfString:find withString:replace] |
Objective-C (NSString * only) |
string.stringByReplacingOccurrencesOfString(find, withString:replace) |
Swift (Foundation) |
string.gsub(string, find, replace) |
Lua |
string copyReplaceAll: find with: replace |
Smalltalk (Squeak, Pharo) |
string map {find replace} string |
Tcl |
StringReplace[string, find -> replace] |
Mathematica |
strings.Replace(string, find, replace, -1) |
Go |
INSPECT string REPLACING ALL/LEADING/FIRST find BY replace |
COBOL |
// Examples in C#
"effffff".Replace("f", "jump"); // returns "ejumpjumpjumpjumpjumpjump"
"blah".Replace("z", "y"); // returns "blah"
// Examples in Java
"effffff".replace("f", "jump"); // returns "ejumpjumpjumpjumpjumpjump"
"effffff".replaceAll("f*", "jump"); // returns "ejump"
' Examples in Visual Basic
Replace("effffff", "f", "jump") ' returns "ejumpjumpjumpjumpjumpjump"
Replace("blah", "z", "y") ' returns "blah"
# Examples in Windows PowerShell
"effffff" -replace "f", "jump" # returns "ejumpjumpjumpjumpjumpjump"
"effffff" -replace "f*", "jump" # returns "ejump"
reverse
Definition | reverse(string) |
---|---|
Description | Reverses the order of the characters in the string. |
Format | Languages |
---|---|
reverse string |
Perl, Haskell |
lists:reverse(string) |
Erlang |
strrev(string) |
PHP |
string[::-1] |
Python |
(string-reverse string) |
Scheme (SRFI 13) |
(reverse string) |
Common Lisp |
string.reverse |
Ruby, D (modifies string) |
new StringBuilder(string).reverse().toString() |
Java |
std::reverse(string.begin(), string.end()); |
C++ (std::string only, modifies string) |
StrReverse(string) |
VB |
string.Reverse().ToString() |
VB .NET, C# |
implode (rev (explode string)) |
Standard ML |
string.split("").reverse().join("") |
JavaScript |
string.reverse(string) |
Lua |
string reverse |
Smalltalk |
StringReverse[string] |
Mathematica |
reverse(string) |
PL/I |
«FUNCTION» REVERSE(string) |
COBOL |
string.toCharArray.toList.reversed.join() |
Cobra |
String(string.characters.reverse()) |
Swift (2.x) |
String(reverse(string)) |
Swift (1.2) |
string reverse string | Tcl |
" Example in Smalltalk "
'hello' reversed " returns 'olleh' "
# Example in Perl
reverse "hello" # returns "olleh"
# Example in Python
"hello"[::-1] # returns "olleh"
; Example in Scheme
(use-modules (srfi srfi-13))
(string-reverse "hello") ; returns "olleh"
rfind
Definition | rfind(string,substring) returns integer |
---|---|
Description | Returns the position of the start of the last occurrence of substring in string. If the substring is not found most of these routines return an invalid index value – -1 where indexes are 0-based, 0 where they are 1-based – or some value to be interpreted as Boolean FALSE. |
Related | instr |
Format | Languages | If not found |
---|---|---|
InStrRev(«startpos,» string,substring) |
VB | returns 0 |
instrrev(«startpos,» string,substring) |
FreeBASIC | returns 0 |
rindex(string,substring«,startpos») |
Perl | returns −1 |
strrpos(string,substring«,startpos») |
PHP | returns FALSE |
string.rfind(substring«,startpos») |
C++ (STL) | returns std::string::npos |
std.string.rfind(string, substring) |
D | returns −1 |
string.rfind(substring«,startpos«, endpos»») |
Python | returns −1 |
string.rindex(substring«,startpos«, endpos»») |
raises ValueError | |
rpos(string, substring«,startpos») |
Seed7 | returns 0 |
string.rindex(substring«,startpos») |
Ruby | returns nil |
strings.LastIndex(string, substring) |
Go | returns −1 |
string.lastIndexOf(substring«,startpos») |
Java, JavaScript | returns −1 |
string.LastIndexOf(substring«,startpos«, charcount»») |
VB .NET, C#, Windows PowerShell, F# | returns −1 |
(search substring string :from-end t) |
Common Lisp | returns NIL |
[string rangeOfString:substring options:NSBackwardsSearch].location |
Objective-C (NSString * only) |
returns NSNotFound |
Str.search_backward (Str.regexp_string substring) string (Str.length string - 1) |
OCaml | raises Not_found |
string.match(string, '.*()'..substring) |
Lua | returns nil |
Ada.Strings.Unbounded.Index(Source => string, Pattern => substring, |
Ada | returns 0 |
string.lastIndexOf(substring«,startpos«, charcount»») |
Cobra | returns −1 |
string lastIndexOfString:substring |
Smalltalk | returns 0 |
string last substring string startpos | Tcl | returns −1 |
; Examples in Common Lisp
(search "e" "Hello mate" :from-end t) ; returns 9
(search "z" "word" :from-end t) ; returns NIL
// Examples in C#
"Hello mate".LastIndexOf("e"); // returns 9
"Hello mate".LastIndexOf("e", 4); // returns 1
"word".LastIndexOf("z"); // returns -1
' Examples in Visual Basic
InStrRev("Hello mate", "e") ' returns 10
InStrRev(5, "Hello mate", "e") ' returns 2
InStrRev("word", "z") ' returns 0
right
Definition | right(string,n) returns string |
---|---|
Description | Returns the right n part of a string. If n is greater than the length of the string then most implementations return the whole string (exceptions exist – see code examples). |
Format | Languages |
---|---|
string (string'Last - n + 1 .. string'Last) |
Ada |
Right(string,n) |
VB |
RIGHT$(string,n) |
BASIC |
right(string,n) |
FreeBASIC, Ingres |
strcpy(string2, string+n) (n must not be greater than the length of string) |
C |
string.Substring(string.Length()-n) |
C# |
string.substring(string.length()-n) |
Java |
string.slice(-n) |
JavaScript[24] |
right(string,n «,padchar») |
Rexx, Erlang |
substr(string,-n) |
Perl, PHP |
string[-n:] |
Cobra, Python |
(string-take-right string n) |
Scheme (SRFI 13) |
string[-n..-1] |
Ruby, Ya |
string[$-n .. $] |
D[25] |
String.sub string (String.length string - n) n |
OCaml[15] |
string.sub(string, -n) |
Lua |
string last: n |
Smalltalk (Squeak, Pharo) |
StringTake[string, -n] |
Mathematica[16] |
string (1:n) |
COBOL |
/* Examples in Rexx */
right("abcde", 3) /* returns "cde" */
right("abcde", 8) /* returns " abcde" */
right("abcde", 8, "*") /* returns "***abcde" */
; Examples in Scheme
(use-modules (srfi srfi-13))
(string-take-right "abcde", 3) ; returns "cde"
(string-take-right "abcde", 8) ; error
' Examples in Visual Basic
Right("sandroguidi", 3) ' returns "idi"
Right("sandroguidi", 100) ' returns "sandroguidi"
// Examples in Java; extract rightmost 4 characters
String str = "CarDoor";
str.substring(str.length()-4); // returns 'Door'
rpartition
Definition | <string>.rpartition(separator) Searches for the separator from right-to-left within the string then returns the sub-string before the separator; the separator; then the sub-string after the separator. |
---|---|
Description | Splits the given string by the right-most separator and returns the three substrings that together make the original. |
Format | Languages |
---|---|
string.rpartition(separator) |
Python, Ruby |
# Examples in Python
"Spam eggs spam spam and ham".rpartition('spam') ### ('Spam eggs spam ', 'spam', ' and ham')
"Spam eggs spam spam and ham".rpartition('X') ### ("", "", 'Spam eggs spam spam and ham')
slice
see #substring
split
Definition | <string>.split(separator[, limit]) splits a string on separator, optionally only up to a limited number of substrings |
---|---|
Description | Splits the given string by occurrences of the separator (itself a string) and returns a list (or array) of the substrings. If limit is given, after limit – 1 separators have been read, the rest of the string is made into the last substring, regardless of whether it has any separators in it. The Scheme and Erlang implementations are similar but differ in several ways. JavaScript differs also in that it cuts, it does not put the rest of the string into the last element. See the example here. The Cobra implementation will default to whitespace. Opposite of join. |
Format | Languages |
---|---|
split(/separator/, string«, limit») |
Perl |
explode(separator, string«, limit») |
PHP |
string.split(separator«, limit-1») |
Python |
string.split(separator«, limit») |
JavaScript, Java, Ruby |
string:tokens(string, sepchars) |
Erlang |
strings.Split(string, separator) |
Go |
(string-tokenize string« charset« start« end»»») |
Scheme (SRFI 13) |
Split(string, sepchars«, limit») |
VB |
string.Split(sepchars«, limit«, options»») |
VB .NET, C#, F# |
string -split separator«, limit«, options»» |
Windows PowerShell |
Str.split (Str.regexp_string separator) string |
OCaml |
std.string.split(string, separator) |
D |
[string componentsSeparatedByString:separator] |
Objective-C (NSString * only) |
string.componentsSeparatedByString(separator) |
Swift (Foundation) |
TStringList.Delimiter, TStringList.DelimitedText |
Object Pascal |
StringSplit[string, separator«, limit»] |
Mathematica |
string.split«(sepchars«, limit«, options»»)» |
Cobra |
split string separator | Tcl |
// Example in C#
"abc,defgh,ijk".Split(','); // {"abc", "defgh", "ijk"}
"abc,defgh;ijk".Split(',', ';'); // {"abc", "defgh", "ijk"}
% Example in Erlang
string:tokens("abc;defgh;ijk", ";"). % ["abc", "defgh", "ijk"]
// Examples in Java
"abc,defgh,ijk".split(","); // {"abc", "defgh", "ijk"}
"abc,defgh;ijk".split(",|;"); // {"abc", "defgh", "ijk"}
{ Example in Pascal }
var
lStrings: TStringList;
lStr: string;
begin
lStrings := TStringList.Create;
lStrings.Delimiter := ',';
lStrings.DelimitedText := 'abc,defgh,ijk';
lStr := lStrings.Strings[0]; // 'abc'
lStr := lStrings.Strings[1]; // 'defgh'
lStr := lStrings.Strings[2]; // 'ijk'
end;
# Examples in Perl
split(/spam/, 'Spam eggs spam spam and ham'); # ('Spam eggs ', ' ', ' and ham')
split(/X/, 'Spam eggs spam spam and ham'); # ('Spam eggs spam spam and ham')
sprintf
see #Format
strip
see #trim
strcmp
substring
Definition | substring(string, startpos, endpos) returns string substr(string, startpos, numChars) returns string |
---|---|
Description | Returns a substring of string between starting at startpos and endpos, or starting at startpos of length numChars. The resulting string is truncated if there are fewer than numChars characters beyond the starting point. endpos represents the index after the last character in the substring. Note that for variable-length encodings such as UTF-8, UTF-16 or Shift-JIS, it can be necessary to remove string positions at the end, in order to avoid invalid strings. |
Format | Languages | |
---|---|---|
string[startpos:endpos] |
ALGOL 68 (changes base index) | |
string (startpos .. endpos) |
Ada (changes base index) | |
Mid(string, startpos, numChars) |
VB | |
mid(string, startpos, numChars) |
FreeBASIC | |
MID$(string, startpos, numChars) |
BASIC | |
substr(string, startpos, numChars) |
AWK (changes string), Perl,[26][27] PHP[26][27] | |
substr(string, startpos «,numChars, padChar») |
Rexx | |
string[startpos:endpos] |
Cobra, Python,[26][28] Go | |
string[startpos, numChars] |
Ruby[26][28] | |
string[startpos .. endpos] |
Seed7 | |
string.slice(startpos«, endpos») |
JavaScript[26][28] | |
string.substr(startpos«, numChars») |
C++ (STL), JavaScript | |
string.Substring(startpos, numChars) |
VB .NET, C#, Windows PowerShell, F# | |
string.substring(startpos«, endpos») |
Java, JavaScript | |
copy(string, startpos, numChars) |
Object Pascal (Delphi) | |
(substring string startpos endpos) |
Scheme | |
(subseq string startpos endpos) |
Common Lisp | |
(subseq string startpos endpos) |
ISLISP | |
String.sub string startpos numChars |
OCaml | |
substring (string, startpos, numChars) |
Standard ML | |
string:sub_string(string, startpos, endpos) |
Erlang | |
strncpy(result, string + startpos, numChars); |
C | |
string[startpos .. endpos+1] |
D | |
take numChars $ drop startpos string |
Haskell | |
[string substringWithRange:NSMakeRange(startpos, numChars)] |
Objective-C (NSString * only) | |
string.[startpos..endpos] |
F# | |
string.sub(string, startpos, endpos) |
Lua[26][28] | |
string copyFrom: startpos to: endpos |
Smalltalk | |
string(startpos:endpos) |
Fortran | |
SUBSTRING(string FROM startpos «FOR numChars») |
SQL | |
StringTake[string, {startpos, endpos}] |
Mathematica[26][28] | |
string[startpos .. endpos] |
Ya | string (startpos:numChars) |
string range string startpos endpos | Tcl |
// Examples in C#
"abc".Substring(1, 1): // returns "b"
"abc".Substring(1, 2); // returns "bc"
"abc".Substring(1, 6); // error
;; Examples in Common Lisp
(subseq "abc" 1 2) ; returns "b"
(subseq "abc" 2) ; returns "c"
% Examples in Erlang
string:substr("abc", 2, 1). % returns "b"
string:substr("abc", 2). % returns "bc"
# Examples in Python
"abc"[1:2] # returns "b"
"abc"[1:3] # returns "bc"
/* Examples in Rexx */
substr("abc", 2, 1) /* returns "b" */
substr("abc", 2) /* returns "bc" */
substr("abc", 2, 6) /* returns "bc " */
substr("abc", 2, 6, "*") /* returns "bc****" */
Uppercase
Definition | uppercase(string) returns string |
---|---|
Description | Returns the string in upper case. |
Format | Languages |
---|---|
UCase(string) |
VB |
ucase(string) |
FreeBASIC |
toupper(string) |
AWK (changes string) |
uc(string) |
Perl |
toupper(char) |
C (operates on one character) |
for(size_t i = 0, len = strlen(string); i< len; i++) string[i] = toupper(string[i]); for (char *c = string; *c != '\0'; c++) *c = toupper(*c); |
C (string / char array) |
std.string.toUpper(string) |
D |
transform(string.begin(), string.end(), result.begin(), toupper)[19] |
C++[29] |
uppercase(string) |
Object Pascal (Delphi) |
upcase(char) |
Object Pascal (Delphi) (operates on one character) |
strtoupper(string) |
PHP |
upper(string) |
Seed7 |
echo "string" | tr 'a-z' 'A-Z' |
Unix |
translate(string) , or
|
Rexx |
string.upper() |
Python |
string.upcase |
Ruby [21] |
strings.ToUpper(string) |
Go |
(string-upcase string) |
Scheme, Common Lisp |
String.uppercase string |
OCaml |
String.map Char.toUpper string |
Standard ML |
map Char.toUpper string |
Haskell |
string.toUpperCase() |
Java, JavaScript |
to_upper(string) |
Erlang |
string.ToUpper() |
VB .NET, C#, Windows PowerShell, F# |
string.uppercaseString |
Objective-C (NSString * only), Swift (Foundation) |
string.upper(string) |
Lua |
string asUppercase |
Smalltalk |
UPPER(string) |
SQL |
ToUpperCase[string] |
Mathematica |
«FUNCTION» UPPER-CASE(string) |
COBOL |
string.toUpper |
Cobra |
string toupper string | Tcl |
// Example in C#
"Wiki means fast?".ToUpper(); // "WIKI MEANS FAST?"
/* Example in Rexx */
translate("Wiki means fast?") /* "WIKI MEANS FAST?" */
/* Example #2 */
A='This is an example.'
UPPER A /* "THIS IS AN EXAMPLE." */
/* Example #3 */
A='upper using Translate Function.'
Translate UPPER VAR A Z /* Z="UPPER USING TRANSLATE FUNCTION." */
; Example in Scheme
(use-modules (srfi srfi-13))
(string-upcase "Wiki means fast?") ; "WIKI MEANS FAST?"
' Example in Visual Basic
UCase("Wiki means fast?") ' "WIKI MEANS FAST?"
trim
trim
or strip
is used to remove whitespace from the beginning, end, or both beginning and end, of a string.
Example usage | Languages |
---|---|
String.Trim([chars]) | C#, VB.NET, Windows PowerShell |
string.strip(); | D |
(.trim string) | Clojure |
sequence [ predicate? ] trim | Factor |
(string-trim '(#\Space #\Tab #\Newline) string) | Common Lisp |
(string-trim string) | Scheme |
string.trim() | Java, JavaScript (1.8.1+, Firefox 3.5+) |
Trim(String) | Pascal,[30] QBasic, Visual Basic, Delphi |
string.strip() | Python |
strings.Trim(string, chars) | Go |
LTRIM(RTRIM(String)) | Oracle SQL, T-SQL |
strip(string [,option, char]) | REXX |
string:strip(string [,option, char]) | Erlang |
string.strip or string.lstrip or string.rstrip | Ruby |
string =~ s/^\s+//r =~ s/\s+$//r | Perl 5 |
string.trim | Perl 6 |
trim(string) | PHP |
[string stringByTrimmingCharactersInSet:[NSCharacterSet whitespaceAndNewlineCharacterSet]] | Objective-C using Cocoa |
string withBlanksTrimmed string withoutSpaces string withoutSeparators |
Smalltalk (Squeak, Pharo) Smalltalk |
strip(string) | SAS |
string trim $string | Tcl |
TRIM(string) or TRIM(ADJUSTL(string)) | Fortran |
TRIM(string) | SQL |
TRIM(string) or LTrim(string) or RTrim(String) | ColdFusion |
String.trim string | OCaml 4+ |
Other languages
In languages without a built-in trim function, it is usually simple to create a custom function which accomplishes the same task.
AWK
In AWK, one can use regular expressions to trim:
ltrim(v) = gsub(/^[ \t]+/, "", v)
rtrim(v) = gsub(/[ \t]+$/, "", v)
trim(v) = ltrim(v); rtrim(v)
or:
function ltrim(s) { sub(/^[ \t]+/, "", s); return s }
function rtrim(s) { sub(/[ \t]+$/, "", s); return s }
function trim(s) { return rtrim(ltrim(s)); }
C/C++
There is no standard trim function in C or C++. Most of the available string libraries[31] for C contain code which implements trimming, or functions that significantly ease an efficient implementation. The function has also often been called EatWhitespace in some non-standard C libraries.
In C, programmers often combine a ltrim and rtrim to implement trim:
#include <string.h>
#include <ctype.h>
void rtrim(char *str)
{
char *s;
s = str + strlen(str);
while (--s >= str) {
if (!isspace(*s)) break;
*s = 0;
}
}
void ltrim(char *str)
{
size_t n;
n = 0;
while (str[n] != '\0' && isspace((unsigned char)str[n])) {
n++;
}
memmove(str, str + n, strlen(str) - n + 1);
}
void trim(char *str)
{
rtrim(str);
ltrim(str);
}
The open source C++ library Boost has several trim variants, including a standard one:[32]
#include <boost/algorithm/string/trim.hpp>
trimmed = boost::algorithm::trim_copy("string");
Note that with boost's function named simply trim
the input sequence is modified in-place, and does not return a result.
Another open source C++ library Qt has several trim variants, including a standard one:[33]
#include <QString>
trimmed = s.trimmed();
The Linux kernel also includes a strip function, strstrip()
, since 2.6.18-rc1, which trims the string "in place". Since 2.6.33-rc1, the kernel uses strim()
instead of strstrip()
to avoid false warnings.[34]
Haskell
A trim algorithm in Haskell:
import Data.Char (isSpace)
trim :: String -> String
trim = f . f
where f = reverse . dropWhile isSpace
may be interpreted as follows: f drops the preceding whitespace, and reverses the string. f is then again applied to its own output. Note that the type signature (the second line) is optional.
J
The trim algorithm in J is a functional description:
trim =. #~ [: (+./\ *. +./\.) ' '&~:
That is: filter (#~
) for non-space characters (' '&~:
) between leading (+./\
) and (*.
) trailing (+./\.
) spaces.
JavaScript
There is a built-in trim function in JavaScript 1.8.1 (Firefox 3.5 and later), and the ECMAScript 5 standard. In earlier versions it can be added to the String object's prototype as follows:
String.prototype.trim = function() {
return this.replace(/^\s+/g, "").replace(/\s+$/g, "");
};
Perl
Perl 5 has no built-in trim function. However, the functionality is commonly achieved using regular expressions.
Example:
$string =~ s/^\s+//; # remove leading whitespace
$string =~ s/\s+$//; # remove trailing whitespace
or:
$string =~ s/^\s+|\s+$//g ; # remove both leading and trailing whitespace
These examples modify the value of the original variable $string
.
Also available for Perl is StripLTSpace in String::Strip
from CPAN.
There are, however, two functions that are commonly used to strip whitespace from the end of strings, chomp
and chop
:
-
chop
removes the last character from a string and returns it. -
chomp
removes the trailing newline character(s) from a string if present. (What constitutes a newline is $INPUT_RECORD_SEPARATOR dependent).
In Perl 6, the upcoming major revision of the language, strings have a trim
method.
Example:
$string = $string.trim; # remove leading and trailing whitespace
$string .= trim; # same thing
Tcl
The Tcl string
command has three relevant subcommands: trim
, trimright
and trimleft
. For each of those commands, an additional argument may be specified: a string that represents a set of characters to remove—the default is whitespace (space, tab, newline, carriage return).
Example of trimming vowels:
set string onomatopoeia
set trimmed [string trim $string aeiou] ;# result is nomatop
set r_trimmed [string trimright $string aeiou] ;# result is onomatop
set l_trimmed [string trimleft $string aeiou] ;# result is nomatopoeia
XSLT
XSLT includes the function normalize-space(string)
which strips leading and trailing whitespace, in addition to replacing any whitespace sequence (including line breaks) with a single space.
Example:
<xsl:variable name='trimmed'>
<xsl:value-of select='normalize-space(string)'/>
</xsl:variable>
XSLT 2.0 includes regular expressions, providing another mechanism to perform string trimming.
Another XSLT technique for trimming is to utilize the XPath 2.0 substring()
function.
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 the index can be negative, which then indicates the number of places before the end of the string.
- ↑ returns LESS, EQUAL, or GREATER
- ↑ returns LT, EQ, or GT
- ↑ returns
.TRUE.
or.FALSE.
. These functions are based on the ASCII collating sequence. - 1 2 IBM extension.
- ↑ The operators use the compiler's default collating sequence.
- ↑ modifies
string1
, which must have enough space to store the result - 1 2 startpos is IBM extension.
- ↑
startpos
is IBM extension. - ↑ "scan in Fortran Wiki". Fortranwiki.org. 2009-04-30. Retrieved 2013-08-18.
- ↑ "verify in Fortran Wiki". Fortranwiki.org. 2012-05-03. Retrieved 2013-08-18.
- ↑
formatstring
must be a fixed literal at compile time for it to have the correct type. - ↑ if n is larger than the length of the string, then in Debug mode ArrayRangeException is thrown, in Release mode, the behaviour is unspecified.
- ↑ if n is larger than the length of the string, Java will throw an IndexOutOfBoundsException
- 1 2 if n is larger than length of string, raises Invalid_argument
- 1 2 if n is larger than length of string, throw the message "StringTake::take:"
- ↑ Ruby lacks Unicode support
- ↑ operates on one character
- 1 2 The
transform
function exists in thestd::
namespace. You must include the<algorithm>
header file to use it. Thetolower
andtoupper
functions are in the global namespace, obtained by the<ctype.h>
header file. Thestd::tolower
andstd::toupper
names are overloaded and cannot be passed tostd::transform
without a cast to resolve a function overloading ambiguity, e.g.std::transform(string.begin(), string.end(), result.begin(), (int (*)(int))std::tolower);
- ↑
std::string
only, result is stored in stringresult
which is at least as long asstring
, and may or may not bestring
itself - 1 2 only ASCII characters as Ruby lacks Unicode support
- 1 2 3 4 5 The "find" string in this construct is interpreted as a regular expression. Certain characters have special meaning in regular expressions. If you want to find a string literally, you need to quote the special characters.
- ↑ third parameter is non-standard
- ↑ "Annotated ES5". Es5.github.com. Retrieved 2013-08-18.
- ↑ if n is larger than length of string, then in Debug mode ArrayRangeException is thrown, and unspecified behaviour in Release mode
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
startpos
can be negative, which indicates to start that number of places before the end of the string. - 1 2
numChars
can be negative, which indicates to end that number of places before the end of the string. - 1 2 3 4 5
endpos
can be negative, which indicates to end that number of places before the end of the string. - ↑
std::string
only, result is stored in string result which is at least as long as string, and may or may not be string itself - ↑ "Trim – GNU Pascal priručnik". Gnu-pascal.de. Retrieved 2013-08-24.
- ↑ "String library comparison". And.org. Retrieved 2013-08-24.
- ↑ "Usage – 1.54.0". Boost.org. 2013-05-22. Retrieved 2013-08-24.
- ↑ Archived August 2, 2009, at the Wayback Machine.
- ↑ dankamongmen. "sprezzos-kernel-packaging/changelog at master · dankamongmen/sprezzos-kernel-packaging · GitHub". Github.com. Retrieved 2016-05-29.
External links
- Perl String Functions
- Python 2 String Methods
- Python 3 String Methods
- Scheme String Procedures
- Erlang String Functions
- .NET String Methods and Properties
- Ruby String Class
- PHP String functions
java.lang.String
members- Haskell Hierarchical Libraries
- Arrays in D (in D strings are regular arrays)
- std.string from Phobos (D standard library)
- Lua String Functions
- OCaml String module
- Common Lisp String manipulation
- FreeBASIC String Functions
- Reference.wolfram.com
- Tcl reference for string commands