- Comparison of programming languages (string functions)
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"String functions" redirects here. For string functions in formal language theory, see String operations.
String functions are used in computer programming languages to manipulate a string or query information about a string (some do both).
Most computer 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.
The most basic example of a string function is the length(string) function. This function returns the length of a string literal.
- eg. 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)
Here is a list of common string functions which are found in other languages. Any other equivalent functions used by other languages are also listed. 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) 1 string[i] C, C++, C#, D, FreeBASIC, Go, Python1, PHP, Ruby1, Windows PowerShell 0 string{i} PHP (deprecated in 5.3) 0 string(i) Ada ≥1 Mid(string,i,1) VB 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 substr(string, i, 1) Perl1 0 string.at(i) C++ ( std::string
only) (w/ bounds checking)0 lists:nth(i, string) Erlang 1 [string characterAtIndex:i] Objective-C ( NSString *
only)0 string.sub(string, i, i)
(string):sub(i, i)Lua1 1 string at: i Smalltalk (w/ bounds checking) 1 string index string i Tcl 0 - In this language, the index can be negative, which then indicates the number of places before the end of the string.
{ 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# "Hello, World"[2]; // 'l'
# Examples in Python "Hello, World"[2] # 'l' "Hello, World"[-3] # 'r'
' Example in Visual Basic GetChar("Hello, World", 2) ' "e"
' 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. Format Languages IF string1<string2 THEN -1 ELSE ABS (string1>string2) FI
ALGOL 68 cmp(string1, string2) Python (before 3.0 only) int(string1 > string2) - int(string1 < string2) Python (since 3.0) strcmp(string1, string2) C, C++ ( char *
only), PHPstd.string.cmp(string1, string2) D StrComp(string1, string2) VB, Object Pascal (Delphi) string1 cmp string2 Perl string1 <=> string2 Ruby string1.compare(string2) C++ ( std::string
only)compare(string1, string2) REXX CompareStr(string1, string2) Pascal, Object Pascal (Delphi) string1.compareTo(string2) Java string1.CompareTo(string2) VB .NET, C#, F# (string= string1 string2) Common Lisp (string-compare string1 string2 p< p= p>) Scheme (SRFI 13) compare string1 string2 OCaml String.compare (string1, string2) Standard ML (returns LESS, EQUAL, or GREATER) compare string1 string2 Haskell (returns LT, EQ, or GT) [string]::Compare(string1, string2) Windows PowerShell [string1 compare:string2] Objective-C ( NSString *
only)LLT(string1,string2)
LLE(string1,string2)
LGT(string1,string2)
LGE(string1,string2)Fortran (returns .TRUE.
or.FALSE.
)string1.localeCompare(string2) JavaScript bytes.Compare([]byte(string1), []byte(string2)) Go string compare ?-nocase? ?-length int? string1 string2 Tcl # 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, Standard ML, VB, VB .NET, F# string1 op string2, where op can be any of =, /=, ≠, <, >, <=, ≤ and ≥; Also: EQ, NE, LT, LE, GE and GT ALGOL 68 (stringX? string1 string2), where X can be any of =, -ci=, <, -ci<, >, -ci>, <=, -ci<=, >= and -ci>= (operators starting with '-ci' are case-insensitive) Scheme (stringX string1 string2), where X can be any of =, -ci=, <>, -ci<>, <, -ci<, >, -ci>, <=, -ci<=, >= and -ci>= (operators starting with '-ci' are case-insensitive) Scheme (SRFI 13) (stringX string1 string2), where X can be any of =, -equal, /=, -not-equal, <, -lessp, >, -greaterp, <=, -not-greaterp, >= and -not-lessp (the verbal operators are case-insensitive) Common Lisp string1 op string2, where op can be any of =, \=, <, >, <= and >= REXX 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++ ( std::string
only), C#, D, Go, JavaScript, Python, PHP, Rubystring1 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 % 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
Main article: ConcatenationDefinition 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, VB, VB .NET strcat(string1, string2) C, C++ ( char *
only; modifies string1, which must have enough space to store the result)string1 . string2 Perl, PHP string1 + string2 ALGOL 68, C++ ( std::string
only), C#, FreeBASIC, Go, Pascal, Object Pascal (Delphi), Java, JavaScript, Windows PowerShell, Python, Ruby, F#, Turing, VBstring1 ~ string2 D (string-append string1 string2) Scheme (concatenate 'string string1 string2) Common Lisp string1 || string2 REXX, SQL 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 { 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 Format Languages string_in_string(string, loc int, substring) ALGOL 68 ContainsStr(string, substring) Object Pascal (Delphi) string.Contains(substring) C#, VB .NET, Windows PowerShell, F# string.contains(substring) Java (1.5+) string.indexOf(substring) >= 0 JavaScript strpos(string, substring) !== false PHP substring in string 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) String.isSubstring substring string Standard ML (search substring string) Common Lisp ¢ 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
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++( std::string
only), C# Go, JavaScript (similarity), PHP (similarity), Ruby, Erlang, Haskell, Lua, Dstring1 === string2 JavaScript, PHP string1 == string2 or
string1 .EQ. string2Fortran strcmp(string1, string2) == 0 C, C++ ( char *
only)(string=? string1 string2) Scheme (string= string1 string2) Common Lisp string1 = string2 ALGOL 68, Ada, Object Pascal (Delphi), OCaml, Pascal, REXX, Standard ML, VB, VB .NET, F#, Smalltalk test string1 = string2, or
[ string1 = string2 ]Bourne Shell string1 eq string2 Perl string1.equals(string2) Java string1 -eq string2, or
[string]::Equals(string1, string2)Windows PowerShell [string1 isEqualToString:string2], or
[string1 isEqual:string2]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 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.find(string, substring) D returns -1 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++ ( std::string
only)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 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)
(string):find(substring)Lua returns nil string indexOfSubCollection: substring startingAt: startpos ifAbsent: aBlock
string findString: substring startingAt: startposSmalltalk (Squeak, Pharo) evaluate aBlock which is a block closure (or any object understanding value)
returns 0startpos = 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) ; 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
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 witch case the position of the first appearence 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++ ( std::string
only)returns std::string::npos strings.IndexRune(string,char) Go returns -1 string.indexOf(char«,startpos») Java returns -1 string.IndexOf(char«,startpos«, charcount»») VB .NET, C#, Windows PowerShell, F# returns -1 (position char string) Common Lisp 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
position = VERIFY (string, set «, back» «, kind»)[a]Fortran returns zero string indexOf: char ifAbsent: aBlock
string indexOf: char
string includes: charSmalltalk evaluate aBlock which is a BlockClosure (or any object understanding value)
returns 0
returns true or false// 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,[1] while VERIFY returns the position of the first character that does not belong to the set.[2]
Format
Definition format(formatstring, items) returns string Description Returns the formatted string representation of one or more items. See sprintf for more information. Format Languages associate(file, string); putf(file, $formatstring$, items) ALGOL 68 Format(item, formatstring) VB sprintf(formatstring, items) Perl, PHP, Ruby io_lib:format(formatstring, items) Erlang sprintf(outputstring, formatstring, items) C, C++ ( char *
only)std.string.format(formatstring, items) D Format(formatstring, items) Object Pascal (Delphi) fmt.Sprintf(formatstring, items) Go printf -v outputstring formatstring items Bash shell formatstring % (items) Python, Ruby formatstring.format(items) Python 3.x (format specification is different from printf) Printf.sprintf formatstring items OCaml (formatstring must be a fixed literal at compile time for it to have the correct type), F# Text.Printf.printf formatstring items Haskell (GHC) String.format(formatstring, items) Java String.Format(formatstring, items) VB .NET, C#, F# (format formatstring items) Scheme (SRFI 28) (format nil formatstring items) Common Lisp formatstring -f items Windows PowerShell [NSString stringWithFormat:formatstring, items] Objective-C ( NSString *
only)string.format(formatstring, items)
(formatstring):format(items)Lua WRITE (outputstring, formatstring) items Fortran // 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"
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 VB, VB .NET, Pascal, Object Pascal (Delphi), OCaml, PHP, Standard ML, F# string1 ne string2 Perl (string<> string1 string2) Scheme (SRFI 13) (string/= string1 string2) Common Lisp string1 != string2 C++ ( std::string
only), C#, Go, JavaScript (not similar), PHP (not similar), Python, Ruby, Dstring1 !== string2 JavaScript, PHP string1 \= string2 REXX test string1 != string2, or
[ string1 != string2 ]Bourne Shell string1 -ne string2, or
-not [string]::Equals(string1, string2)Windows PowerShell string1 ~= string2 Lua, Smalltalk // Example in C# "hello" != "world" // returns true
' Example in Visual Basic "hello" <> "world" ' returns 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) joins a list of strings 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 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 strings.Join(array_of_strings, separator) Go 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# &{$OFS=$separator; "$array_of_strings"}, or
array_of_strings -join separatorWindows 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) // Example in C# String.Join("-", {"a", "b", "c"}) // "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). Format Languages string (string'First .. string'First + n - 1) Ada string:substr(string, start, length) Erlang Left(string,n) VB left(string,n) FreeBASIC, Ingres left(string,n «,padchar») REXX, Erlang substr(string, 0, n) AWK (changes string), Perl, PHP string[:n] Python string[0, n]
string[0..n - 1]Ruby string.substr(0,n) C++ ( std::string
only)string[0 .. n] D (if n is larger than the length of the string, then in Debug mode ArrayRangeException is thrown, in Release mode, the behaviour is unspecified) string.Substring(0,n) VB .NET, C#, Windows PowerShell, F# leftstr(string, n) Pascal, Object Pascal (Delphi) string.substring(0,n) Java, JavaScript (string-take string n) Scheme (SRFI 13) take n string Haskell [string substringToIndex:n] Objective-C ( NSString *
only)String.extract (string, n, NONE) Standard ML String.sub string 0 n OCaml (if n is larger than length of string, raises Invalid_argument) string.[..n] F# string.sub(string, 1, n)
(string):sub(1, n)Lua string first: n Smalltalk (Squeak, Pharo) string(:n) Fortran /* 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"
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) FreeBASIC, Ingres, Perl, Pascal, Object Pascal (Delphi), REXX, SQL len(string) 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 (Ruby lacks Unicode support) Ruby strlen(string) Number of bytes C, C++ ( char *
only), PHPstring.length() C++ ( std::string
only)string.length D string.length() Number of 16-bit UTF-16-encoded blocks Java string.length JavaScript (string-length string) Scheme (length string) Common Lisp String.length string OCaml size string Standard ML length string Number of Unicode codepoints Haskell [string length] Objective-C ( NSString *
only)string.len(string)
(string):len()
#stringLua string size Smalltalk LEN(string), or LEN_TRIM(string) Fortran // 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 (operates on one character) std.string.tolower(string) D transform(string.begin(), string.end(), result.begin(), tolower)[3] C++ ( 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)lowercase(string) Object Pascal (Delphi) strtolower(string) PHP echo "string" | tr 'A-Z' 'a-z' Unix string.lower() Python string.downcase Ruby (only ASCII characters as Ruby lacks Unicode support) strings.ToLower(string) Go (string-downcase string) Scheme (R6RS), Common Lisp 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)string.lower(string)
(string):lower()Lua string asLowercase Smalltalk LOWER(string) SQL // 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 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) Python, Java (1.5+) string.replaceAll(find_regex, replace)[4] Java string.gsub(find, replace) Ruby string =~ s/find_regex/replace/g[4] Perl string.replace(find, replace, "g") or
string.replace(/find_regex/g, replace)[4]JavaScript echo "string" | sed 's/find_regex/replace/g'[4] Unix string.replace(find, replace), or
string -replace find_regex, replace[4]Windows PowerShell Str.global_replace (Str.regexp_string find) replace string OCaml [string stringByReplacingOccurrencesOfString:find withString:replace] Objective-C ( NSString *
only)string.gsub(string, find, replace)
(string):gsub(find, replace)Lua string copyReplaceAll: find with: replace Smalltalk (Squeak, Pharo) string map {find replace} string Tcl // 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 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)
(string):reverse()Lua string reverse Smalltalk # 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++ ( std::string
only)returns std::string::npos std.string.rfind(string, substring) D returns -1 string.rfind(substring«,startpos«, endpos»») Python returns -1 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)
string:match('.*()'..substring)Lua returns nil ; 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) FreeBASIC, Ingres string.substring(string.length()-n) Java string.substring(string.length-n, string.length) JavaScript right(string,n «,padchar») REXX, Erlang substr(string,-n) Perl, PHP string[-n:] Python (string-take-right string n) Scheme (SRFI 13) string[-n..-1] Ruby string[$-n .. $] D (if n is larger than length of string, then in Debug mode ArrayRangeException is thrown, and unspecified behaviour in Release mode) String.sub string (String.length string - n) n OCaml (if n is larger than length of string, raises Invalid_argument) string.sub(string, -n)
(string):sub(-n)Lua string last: n Smalltalk (Squeak, Pharo) /* 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. 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)
strings.SplitN(string, separator, limit)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)TStringList.Delimiter, TStringList.DelimitedText Object Pascal // 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
substring1
Definition substring(string, startpos, endpos) returns string
substr(string, startpos, numChars) returns stringDescription 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. 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 substr(string, startpos, numChars) AWK (changes string), Perl2,4, PHP2,4 substr(string, startpos «,numChars, padChar») REXX string[startpos:endpos] Python2,3, Go string[startpos, numChars]
string[startpos .. endpos-1]
string[startpos ... endpos]Ruby2,3 string.slice(startpos«, endpos») JavaScript2,3 string.substr(startpos«, numChars») C++ ( std::string
only), JavaScriptstring.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 String.sub string startpos numChars Ocaml substring (string, startpos, numChars) Standard ML string:sub_string(string, startpos, endpos)
string:substr(string, startpos, numChars)Erlang char result[numChars+1] = "";
strncat(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)
(string):sub(startpos, endpos)Lua2,3 string copyFrom: startpos to: endpos Smalltalk string(startpos:endpos) Fortran SUBSTRING(string FROM startpos «FOR numChars») SQL - See CharAt for base of startpos/endpos.
- In this language, startpos can be negative, which indicates to start that number of places before the end of the string.
- In this language, endpos can be negative, which indicates to end that number of places before the end of the string.
- In this language, numChars can be negative, which indicates to end that number of places before the end of the string.
// 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 "bc" <source lang="text"> % 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) std.string.toupper(string) D transform(string.begin(), string.end(), result.begin(), toupper)[3] C++ ( 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)uppercase(string) Object Pascal (Delphi) upcase(char) Object Pascal (Delphi) (operates on one character) strtoupper(string) PHP echo "string" | tr 'a-z' 'A-Z' Unix translate(string) , or
UPPER variables , or
PARSE UPPER VAR SrcVar DstVarREXX string.upper() Python string.upcase Ruby (only ASCII characters as Ruby lacks Unicode support) 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)string.upper(string)
(string):upper()Lua string asUppercase Smalltalk UPPER(string) SQL // 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
Main article: Trim (programming)trim or strip is used to remove whitespace from the beginning, end, or both beginning and end, of a string.
Notes
- ^ http://fortranwiki.org/fortran/show/scan
- ^ http://fortranwiki.org/fortran/show/verify
- ^ a b The
transform
,tolower
, andtoupper
functions exist in thestd::
namespace. You must include the<algorithm>
header file for thetransform
function, and include the<cctype>
header file for thetolower
andtoupper
functions. In some compilers, a cast must be made to thetolower
ortoupper
function in order to resolve a function overloading ambiguity; e.g.std::transform(string.begin(), string.end(), result.begin(), (int (*)(int))std::tolower);
- ^ a b c d e 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.
External links
- Perl String Functions
- Python 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
- std.string from Phobos (D standard library)
- Lua String Functions
- OCaml String module
- Common Lisp String manipulation
- FreeBASIC String Functions
Categories:- Programming language comparisons
- String (computer science)
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