String Functions

substring

Returns a new string that is a substring of this string. The substring begins with the character at the specified index and extends to the end of this string.

Arguments

String: the string on which the function operates.
Int first: the beginning index, inclusive.

Returns

String: the specified substring.

Example

text as String
	text = "Hello World"
	display substring(text, first : 5)

The previous example displays "World!".

substring

Returns a new string that is a substring of this string. The substring begins at the specified first index and extends to the character at index last - 1. Thus, the length of the substring is last - first.

Arguments

String: the string on which the function operates.
Int first: the beginning index, inclusive.
Int last: the ending index, exclusive.

Returns

String: the specified substring.

Example

	text as String
	text = "Hello World!"
	display substring(text, first : 5, last : 11)

The previous example displays "World".

fields

Given a source string and delimiter character, it returns an array of strings containing substrings of the original string delimited by the specified character. The delimiter is not included in the result.

Arguments

String: the string on which the function operates.
String delim: Character that delimits field.

Returns

String[]: an array of strings containing the fields delimited by delim.

Example

	text as String
	text = "Hello World!"
	display fields(text, delim : " ")

The example above displays ["Hello", "World!"].

length

Returns the number of characters in the string.

Arguments

String: the string on which the function operates.

Returns

Int: Number of characters in the string.

Example

	text as String
	text = "Hello World!"
	display length(text)

The previous example displays 12.

replace

Returns a new string with all the occurrences of from in the original string replaced by to.

This function has a variation that accepts a regular expression for matching the pattern to be replaced. See Regular Expressions for details.

Arguments

String: the string on which the function operates.
String from: the string to find.
String to: the replacement text.

Returns

String: a new string with the replacements.

Example

	text as String
	text = "Hello World!"
	display replace(text, from : "World", @to : "Mary")

The previous example displays "Hello Mary!".

charAt

This function returns the character contained in the specified index position.

Arguments

String: the string on which the function operates.
Int position: zero-based index of a character inside the string.

Returns

String(1): the character at the specified index.

Example

	text as String
	text = "Hello World!"
	display charAt(text, position : 6)

The previous example displays "W".

indexOf

Searches inside a string for another string and returns the index where the first occurrence happens.

This function has a variation that accepts a regular expression for matching. See Regular Expressions for details.

Arguments

String: the string on which the function operates.
String text: the text to find.

Returns

Int: the index of the occurrence or -1 if not found.

Example

	text as String
	text = "Hello World!"
	display indexOf(text, text : "Wor")

The previous example displays 6.

lastIndexOf

Searches inside a string for another string and returns the index where the last occurrence happens.

This function has a variation that accepts a regular expression for matching. See Regular Expressions for details.

Arguments

String: the string on which the function operates.
String text: the text to find.

Returns

Int: the index of the occurrence or -1 if not found.

Example

	text as String
	text = "Hello World!"
	display lastIndexOf(text, text : "o")

The previous example displays 7.

split

Splits a string using a regular expression. The delimiters are not included. See Regular Expressions for details.

Example

	text as String= "One Two Three"
	display split(text,'/\w+ \w+/m')

The previous example produces this output ["","Three"].

count

This function counts the number of times that a character is found in a string.

Arguments

String: the string on which the function operates.
String(1) ch: character to find.

Returns

Int: the number of occurrences of the specified character in the string.

Example

	date as String = "10/12/2004"
	if count (date, ch: "/") = 2 then
	   date = replace(date,"/","-")
	   display date
	else
	   display "Bad Date Format"
	end

The previous example displays "10-12-2004".

toUpperCase

Returns a new string with all the characters in uppercase.

Arguments

String: the string on which the function operates.

Returns

String: a new string with all the characters in uppercase.

Example

	text as String
	text = "Hello World!"
	display toUpperCase(text)

The previous example displays "HELLO WORLD!".

toLowerCase

Returns a new string with all the characters in lowercase.

Arguments

String: the string on which the function operates.

Returns

String: a new string with all the characters in lowercase.

Example

	text as String
	text = "Hello World!"
	display toLowerCase(text)

The previous example displays "hello world!".

trim

Returns a new string with all the whitespace removed from the beginning and the end of the string.

Arguments

String: the string on which the function operates.

Returns

String: a new string with all the leading and trailing whitespace removed.

Example

	option as String = " Yes   "
	if toLowerCase(trim (option))= "yes" then
	  display "The option is correct"
	else
	  display "The option is wrong".
	end

isMatch

Checks whether a string matches a regular expression. See Regular Expressions for details.

Example

	text as String= "One Two Three"
	display isMatch(text,'/\w+ Two \w+/g')

The previous example displays true.

contains

This function returns true if a substring in a text matches the specified regular expression. See Regular Expressions for details.

Example

	text as String= "One Two Three Four Five"
	display contains(text,'/\w+ Tw/g')

The previous example displays true.

chars

Returns an array of String(1) containing all the characters in the string.

Arguments

String: the string on which the function operates.

Returns

String(1)[]: the characters in the string.

Example

	text as String= "fuego"
	characters as String(1)[]
	characters = chars(text)
	for each i in characters
	do
	    display "Char is "+ i
	end

The previous example displays:

	"Char is f"
	"Char is u"
	"Char is e"
	"Char is g"
	"Char is o"

pad

Returns a new string completed with spaces until the specified length is reached.

Arguments

String: the string on which the function operates.
Int len: the desired length of the string. If you pass a negative number (e.g.: -1), it is ignored and returns an empty string.

Returns

String: a new string of the specified length.

Example

	text as String
	text = "Hello World!"
	display pad(text, len : 20)

strip

The strip function returns a new string truncated to a specified length. If the string is shorter than the length specified, it is left as it is.

Arguments

String: the string on which the function operates.
Int len: the desired length of the string. If you pass a negative number (e.g.: -1), it is ignored and returns an empty string.

Returns

String: a new string of the specified length.

Example

	text as String
	text = "Hello World!"
	display strip(text, len : 5)

The previous example displays "Hello".

How to convert a String to a Time

The following will convert the string in strDate into a Time value to be set in realDate.

strDate = "Tue Feb 22 15:26:02 ART 2005"
strPattern = "EEE MMM dd HH:mm:ss z yyyy"
	
simpleDateFormat = Java.Text.SimpleDateFormat(strPattern)
realDate = parse(simpleDateFormat, strDate)
	
display realDate

The value of realDate becomes 2005-02-22 15:26:02-03

realDate is a variable of type Time. It contains the same date that was expressed as a string in strDate.