String methods

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String methods
You can find more info about the particular regex syntax used in the *_regex methods on this link.
.to_uppercase()
Return the same string in all uppercase characters.
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string.to_uppercase() => String
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​
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// example
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do val = "Where is Brian?"
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do val.to_uppercase() // "WHERE IS BRIAN?"
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.to_lowercase()
Return the same string in all lowercase characters.
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string.to_lowercase() => String
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​
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// example
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do val = "Where is Brian?"
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do val.to_lowercase() // "where is brian?"
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.capitalize()
Return the same string with the first letter in uppercase. The rest of the string remains unchanged.
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string.capitalize() => String
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​
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// example
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do val = "my name is John"
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do val.capitalize() // "My name is John"
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.trim(), .trim_left(), .trim_right()
Returns a new string with both leading and trailing whitespace removed. .trim_left() and .trim_right() only trim the leading and trainling whitespace respectively.
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do text = "   Where is Brian?   "
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do new_text = text.trim()
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say new_text // "Where is Brian?"
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​
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do new_text = text.trim_left()
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say new_text // "Where is Brian?   "
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​
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do new_text = text.trim_right()
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say new_text // "   Where is Brian?"
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.length()
Return the length of the target string.
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string.length() => Integer
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​
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// example
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do val = "Where is Brian?"
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do val.length() // 15
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.contains(String), .contains_regex(String)
Return whether the string contains another string or expression.
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haystack.contains(needle) => Boolean
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haystack.contains_regex(needle) => Boolean
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​
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// example
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do val = "Where is Brian?"
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// does it contain any "r"?
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do val.contains("r") // true
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// does it contain the word "where"?
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do val.contains("where") // false => no, because it is case sensitive
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// does it contain any number?
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do val.contains_regex("[0-9]") // true
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.replace(), .replace_all(), .replace_regex()
Replace the first, all or any occurrence matching the predicate:
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say "toto".replace("o", "a") // "tato" the first o char is replaced
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say "toto".replace_all("o", "a") // "tata" all o chars are replaced
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say "toto".replace_regex("[to]", "a") // "aaaa" all chars that are t or o are replaced
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.starts_with(String), .starts_with_regex(String)
Return whether a string starts with another string or expression.
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haystack.starts_with(needle) => Boolean
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haystack.starts_with_regex(needle) => Boolean
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​
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// example
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do val = "Where is Brian?"
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// does it start with "r"?
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do val.starts_with("r") // false
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// does it start with any uppercase letter?
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do val.starts_with_regex("[A-Z]") // true
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.ends_with(String), .ends_with_regex(String)
Return whether a string ends with another string or expression.
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haystack.ends_with(needle) => Boolean
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haystack.ends_with_regex(needle) => Boolean
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​
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// example
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do val = "Where is Brian?"
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// does it end with "r"?
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do val.ends_with("r") // false
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// does it end with any uppercase letter?
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do val.ends_with_regex("[A-Z]") // false
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.match(String), .match_regex(String)
Return all the matches of the string or expression in the target string, or Null if none are found.
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haystack.match(needle) => Array[String]
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haystack.match_regex(needle) => Array[String]
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​
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// example
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do val = "Where is Brian?"
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// does it match with "r"?
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do val.match("r") // ["r", "r"] => yes, twice!
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// does it match with any uppercase letter?
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do val.match_regex("[A-Z]") // ["W", "B"] => yes, and these are the letters!
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About _regex methods:
The \ (backslash) character has a special meaning. For technical reasons, in all strings, it must be properly escaped, by convention by adding another \ in front of itself, to avoid being interpreted as a special character. For example, if you mean to write the exact string "\n" you must in fact write \\n, otherwise \n will be interpreted as a line break.
This Python documentation explains why it especially matters in Regex syntax to escape backslashes: https://docs.python.org/2/howto/regex.html#the-backslash-plague​
We follow this nomenclature for CSML Regex handling, so a single Regex backslash must be written as a "\\" string, and an escaped backslash (that behaves as a literal "\" string character) must in fact be escaped twice, once for being in a string, and once for being in a Regex: you have to write "\\\\" to result in the Regex syntax \\which in turn matches the literal "\" string.
In a future release of CSML we might introduce a "raw string" method to bypass this limitation.
.is_number(), .is_int(), .is_float()
Return whether the given string represents a numerical value, an int, a float.
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string.is_number() => Boolean
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​
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// example
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do val = "Where is Brian?"
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do val.is_number() // false
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​
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do val = "42"
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do val.is_number() // true
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do val.is_int() // true
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do val.is_float() // false
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.split(String)
Split a string by a given separator and return an array containing all elements in order. The separator can be a single or multiple characters. If the separator can not be found in the string, the returned array will only contain the original string.
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string.split(String) => Array[String]
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​
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// example
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do val = "this is a long string"
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do val.split(" ") // ["this", "is", "a", "long", "string"]
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do val.split("is") // ["th", " ", " a long string"]
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do val.split("camembert") // ["this is a long string"]
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.slice(start, end) => String
Cut a string between the start and end characters. Some rules apply:
If end is not specified, all the characters after start are returned.
When specified, end must be ≥ start.
If any of the parameters is < 0, the count is made from the end of the string.
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say "abcdefghijklmnop".slice(2, 4) // "cd"
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say "abcdefghijklmnop".slice(7) // "hijklmnop"
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say "abcdefghijklmnop".slice(-4) // "mnop"
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say "abcdefghijklmnop".slice(-4, 14) // "mn"
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​
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say "abcdefghijklmnop".slice(-4, 3) // Error
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say "abcdefghijklmnop".slice(2, 1) // Error
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.to_int(), .to_float() => Integer, Float
Convert a string representing a number to a value cast as an integer or float:
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do val = "1.2345".to_int() // 1
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do val = "1.2345".to_float() // 1.2345
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​
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do val = "not a number".to_int() // error
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.to_yml(), .to_json()
Convert yaml to json and back
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do json = "some:\n  yaml: 1".to_json()
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say "{{json}}" // {"some":{"yaml":1}}
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​
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do yml = json.to_yaml()
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say "{{yml}}" // some:\n  yaml: 1
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.encode_uri(), .encode_uri_component(), .decode_uri(), .decode_uri_component()
Encode and decode URI/URIComponent (see https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Reference/Global_Objects/encodeURI#encodeuri_vs_encodeuricomponent)
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say "https://mozilla.org/?x=шеллы".encode_uri()
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say "https://mozilla.org/?x=шеллы".encode_uri_component()
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​
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say "https://mozilla.org/?x=%D1%88%D0%B5%D0%BB%D0%BB%D1%8B".decode_uri()
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say "https%3A%2F%2Fmozilla.org%2F%3Fx%3D%D1%88%D0%B5%D0%BB%D0%BB%D1%8B".decode_uri_component()
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.encode_html_entities(), .decode_html_entities()
Encode and decode HTML entities​
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debug "42 < 100".encode_html_entities()
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debug "42 &lt; 100".decode_html_entities()
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