Module
string
Module Summary
String processing functions.
Description
This module provides functions for string processing.
A string in this module is represented by unicode:chardata()
, that is, a list of codepoints, binaries with UTF-8-encoded codepoints (UTF-8 binaries), or a mix of the two.
"abcd" is a valid string <<"abcd">> is a valid string ["abcd"] is a valid string <<"abc..åäö"/utf8>> is a valid string <<"abc..åäö">> is NOT a valid string, but a binary with Latin-1-encoded codepoints [<<"abc">>, "..åäö"] is a valid string [atom] is NOT a valid string
This module operates on grapheme clusters. A grapheme cluster is a user-perceived character, which can be represented by several codepoints.
"å" [229] or [97, 778] "e̊" [101, 778]
The string length of "ß↑e̊" is 3, even though it is represented by the codepoints [223,8593,101,778]
or the UTF-8 binary <<195,159,226,134,145,101,204,138>>
.
Grapheme clusters for codepoints of class prepend
and non-modern (or decomposed) Hangul is not handled for performance reasons in find/3
, replace/3
, split/2
, split/2
and trim/3
.
Splitting and appending strings is to be done on grapheme clusters borders. There is no verification that the results of appending strings are valid or normalized.
Most of the functions expect all input to be normalized to one form, see for example unicode:characters_to_nfc_list/1
.
Language or locale specific handling of input is not considered in any function.
The functions can crash for non-valid input strings. For example, the functions expect UTF-8 binaries but not all functions verify that all binaries are encoded correctly.
Unless otherwise specified the return value type is the same as the input type. That is, binary input returns binary output, list input returns a list output, and mixed input can return a mixed output.
1> string:trim(" sarah "). "sarah" 2> string:trim(<<" sarah ">>). <<"sarah">> 3> string:lexemes("foo bar", " "). ["foo","bar"] 4> string:lexemes(<<"foo bar">>, " "). [<<"foo">>,<<"bar">>]
This module has been reworked in Erlang/OTP 20 to handle unicode:chardata()
and operate on grapheme clusters. The old functions
that only work on Latin-1 lists as input are still available but should not be used, they will be deprecated in a future release.
Data Types
direction() = leading | trailing
grapheme_cluster() = char() | [char()]
A user-perceived character, consisting of one or more codepoints.
Exports
casefold(String :: unicode:chardata() ) -> unicode:chardata() | OTP 20.0 |
Converts String
to a case-agnostic comparable string. Function casefold/1
is preferred over lowercase/1
when two strings are to be compared for equality. See also equal/4
.
Example:
1> string:casefold("Ω and ẞ SHARP S"). "ω and ss sharp s"
chomp(String :: unicode:chardata() ) -> unicode:chardata() | OTP 20.0 |
Returns a string where any trailing \n
or \r\n
have been removed from String
.
Example:
182> string:chomp(<<"\nHello\n\n">>). <<"\nHello">> 183> string:chomp("\nHello\r\r\n"). "\nHello\r"
equal(A, B) -> boolean() |
equal(A, B, IgnoreCase) -> boolean() | OTP 20.0 |
equal(A, B, IgnoreCase, Norm) -> boolean() | OTP 20.0 |
Types
Returns true
if A
and B
are equal, otherwise false
.
If IgnoreCase
is true
the function does casefolding
on the fly before the equality test.
If Norm
is not none
the function applies normalization on the fly before the equality test. There are four available normalization forms: nfc
, nfd
, nfkc
, and nfkd
.
By default, IgnoreCase
is false
and Norm
is none
.
Example:
1> string:equal("åäö", <<"åäö"/utf8>>). true 2> string:equal("åäö", unicode:characters_to_nfd_binary("åäö")). false 3> string:equal("åäö", unicode:characters_to_nfd_binary("ÅÄÖ"), true, nfc). true
find(String, SearchPattern) -> unicode:chardata() | nomatch | OTP 20.0 |
find(String, SearchPattern, Dir) -> unicode:chardata() | nomatch | OTP 20.0 |
Types
Removes anything before SearchPattern
in String
and returns the remainder of the string or nomatch
if SearchPattern
is not found. Dir
, which can be leading
or trailing
, indicates from which direction characters are to be searched.
By default, Dir
is leading
.
Example:
1> string:find("ab..cd..ef", "."). "..cd..ef" 2> string:find(<<"ab..cd..ef">>, "..", trailing). <<"..ef">> 3> string:find(<<"ab..cd..ef">>, "x", leading). nomatch 4> string:find("ab..cd..ef", "x", trailing). nomatch
is_empty(String :: unicode:chardata() ) -> boolean() | OTP 20.0 |
Returns true
if String
is the empty string, otherwise false
.
Example:
1> string:is_empty("foo"). false 2> string:is_empty(["",<<>>]). true
length(String :: unicode:chardata() ) -> integer() >= 0 | OTP 20.0 |
Returns the number of grapheme clusters in String
.
Example:
1> string:length("ß↑e̊"). 3 2> string:length(<<195,159,226,134,145,101,204,138>>). 3
lexemes(String :: unicode:chardata() ,SeparatorList :: [ grapheme_cluster() ]) ->[ unicode:chardata() ] | OTP 20.0 |
Returns a list of lexemes in String
, separated by the grapheme clusters in SeparatorList
.
Notice that, as shown in this example, two or more adjacent separator graphemes clusters in String
are treated as one. That is, there are no empty strings in the resulting list of lexemes. See also split/3
which returns empty strings.
Notice that [$\r,$\n]
is one grapheme cluster.
Example:
1> string:lexemes("abc de̊fxxghix jkl\r\nfoo", "x e" ++ [[$\r,$\n]]). ["abc","de̊f","ghi","jkl","foo"] 2> string:lexemes(<<"abc de̊fxxghix jkl\r\nfoo"/utf8>>, "x e" ++ [$\r,$\n]). [<<"abc">>,<<"de̊f"/utf8>>,<<"ghi">>,<<"jkl\r\nfoo">>]
lowercase(String :: unicode:chardata() ) -> unicode:chardata() | OTP 20.0 |
Converts String
to lowercase.
Notice that function casefold/1
should be used when converting a string to be tested for equality.
Example:
2> string:lowercase(string:uppercase("Michał")). "michał"
next_codepoint(String :: unicode:chardata() ) ->maybe_improper_list(char(), unicode:chardata() ) |{error, unicode:chardata() } | OTP 20.0 |
Returns the first codepoint in String
and the rest of String
in the tail. Returns an empty list if String
is empty or an {error, String}
tuple if the next byte is invalid.
Example:
1> string:next_codepoint(unicode:characters_to_binary("e̊fg")). [101|<<"̊fg"/utf8>>]
next_grapheme(String :: unicode:chardata() ) ->maybe_improper_list( grapheme_cluster() ,unicode:chardata() ) |{error, unicode:chardata() } | OTP 20.0 |
Returns the first grapheme cluster in String
and the rest of String
in the tail. Returns an empty list if String
is empty or an {error, String}
tuple if the next byte is invalid.
Example:
1> string:next_grapheme(unicode:characters_to_binary("e̊fg")). ["e̊"|<<"fg">>]
nth_lexeme(String, N, SeparatorList) -> unicode:chardata() | OTP 20.0 |
Types
Returns lexeme number N
in String
, where lexemes are separated by the grapheme clusters in SeparatorList
.
Example:
1> string:nth_lexeme("abc.de̊f.ghiejkl", 3, ".e"). "ghi"
pad(String, Length) -> unicode:charlist() | OTP 20.0 |
pad(String, Length, Dir) -> unicode:charlist() | OTP 20.0 |
pad(String, Length, Dir, Char) -> unicode:charlist() | OTP 20.0 |
Types
Pads String
to Length
with grapheme cluster Char
. Dir
, which can be leading
, trailing
, or both
, indicates where the padding should be added.
By default, Char
is $\s
and Dir
is trailing
.
Example:
1> string:pad(<<"He̊llö"/utf8>>, 8). [<<72,101,204,138,108,108,195,182>>,32,32,32] 2> io:format("'~ts'~n",[string:pad("He̊llö", 8, leading)]). ' He̊llö' 3> io:format("'~ts'~n",[string:pad("He̊llö", 8, both)]). ' He̊llö '
prefix(String :: unicode:chardata() , Prefix :: unicode:chardata() ) ->nomatch | unicode:chardata() | OTP 20.0 |
If Prefix
is the prefix of String
, removes it and returns the remainder of String
, otherwise returns nomatch
.
Example:
1> string:prefix(<<"prefix of string">>, "pre"). <<"fix of string">> 2> string:prefix("pre", "prefix"). nomatch
replace(String, SearchPattern, Replacement) -> [ unicode:chardata() ] | OTP 20.0 |
replace(String, SearchPattern, Replacement, Where) -> [ unicode:chardata() ] | OTP 20.0 |
Types
Replaces SearchPattern
in String
with Replacement
. Where
, default leading
, indicates whether the leading
, the trailing
or all
encounters of SearchPattern
are to be replaced.
Can be implemented as:
lists:join(Replacement, split(String, SearchPattern, Where)).
Example:
1> string:replace(<<"ab..cd..ef">>, "..", "*"). [<<"ab">>,"*",<<"cd..ef">>] 2> string:replace(<<"ab..cd..ef">>, "..", "*", all). [<<"ab">>,"*",<<"cd">>,"*",<<"ef">>]
reverse(String :: unicode:chardata() ) -> [grapheme_cluster() ] | OTP 20.0 |
Returns the reverse list of the grapheme clusters in String
.
Example:
1> Reverse = string:reverse(unicode:characters_to_nfd_binary("ÅÄÖ")). [[79,776],[65,776],[65,778]] 2> io:format("~ts~n",[Reverse]). ÖÄÅ
slice(String, Start) -> Slice | OTP 20.0 |
slice(String, Start, Length) -> Slice | OTP 20.0 |
Types
Returns a substring of String
of at most Length
grapheme clusters, starting at position Start
.
By default, Length
is infinity
.
Example:
1> string:slice(<<"He̊llö Wörld"/utf8>>, 4). <<"ö Wörld"/utf8>> 2> string:slice(["He̊llö ", <<"Wörld"/utf8>>], 4,4). "ö Wö" 3> string:slice(["He̊llö ", <<"Wörld"/utf8>>], 4,50). "ö Wörld"
split(String, SearchPattern) -> [ unicode:chardata() ] | OTP 20.0 |
split(String, SearchPattern, Where) -> [ unicode:chardata() ] | OTP 20.0 |
Types
Splits String
where SearchPattern
is encountered and return the remaining parts. Where
, default leading
, indicates whether the leading
, the trailing
or all
encounters of SearchPattern
will split String
.
Example:
0> string:split("ab..bc..cd", ".."). ["ab","bc..cd"] 1> string:split(<<"ab..bc..cd">>, "..", trailing). [<<"ab..bc">>,<<"cd">>] 2> string:split(<<"ab..bc....cd">>, "..", all). [<<"ab">>,<<"bc">>,<<>>,<<"cd">>]
take(String, Characters) -> {Leading, Trailing} | OTP 20.0 |
take(String, Characters, Complement) -> {Leading, Trailing} | OTP 20.0 |
take(String, Characters, Complement, Dir) -> {Leading, Trailing} | OTP 20.0 |
Types
Takes characters from String
as long as the characters are members of set Characters
or the complement of set Characters
. Dir
, which can be leading
or trailing
, indicates from which direction characters are to be taken.
Example:
5> string:take("abc0z123", lists:seq($a,$z)). {"abc","0z123"} 6> string:take(<<"abc0z123">>, lists:seq($0,$9), true, leading). {<<"abc">>,<<"0z123">>} 7> string:take("abc0z123", lists:seq($0,$9), false, trailing). {"abc0z","123"} 8> string:take(<<"abc0z123">>, lists:seq($a,$z), true, trailing). {<<"abc0z">>,<<"123">>}
titlecase(String :: unicode:chardata() ) -> unicode:chardata() | OTP 20.0 |
Converts String
to titlecase.
Example:
1> string:titlecase("ß is a SHARP s"). "Ss is a SHARP s"
to_float(String) -> {Float, Rest} | {error, Reason} |
Types
Argument String
is expected to start with a valid text represented float (the digits are ASCII values). Remaining characters in the string after the float are returned in Rest
.
Example:
> {F1,Fs} = string:to_float("1.0-1.0e-1"), > {F2,[]} = string:to_float(Fs), > F1+F2. 0.9 > string:to_float("3/2=1.5"). {error,no_float} > string:to_float("-1.5eX"). {-1.5,"eX"}
to_integer(String) -> {Int, Rest} | {error, Reason} |
Types
Argument String
is expected to start with a valid text represented integer (the digits are ASCII values). Remaining characters in the string after the integer are returned in Rest
.
Example:
> {I1,Is} = string:to_integer("33+22"), > {I2,[]} = string:to_integer(Is), > I1-I2. 11 > string:to_integer("0.5"). {0,".5"} > string:to_integer("x=2"). {error,no_integer}
to_graphemes(String :: unicode:chardata() ) -> [grapheme_cluster() ] | OTP 20.0 |
Converts String
to a list of grapheme clusters.
Example:
1> string:to_graphemes("ß↑e̊"). [223,8593,[101,778]] 2> string:to_graphemes(<<"ß↑e̊"/utf8>>). [223,8593,[101,778]]
trim(String) -> unicode:chardata() | OTP 20.0 |
trim(String, Dir) -> unicode:chardata() | OTP 20.0 |
trim(String, Dir, Characters) -> unicode:chardata() | OTP 20.0 |
Types
Returns a string, where leading or trailing, or both, Characters
have been removed. Dir
which can be leading
, trailing
, or both
, indicates from which direction characters are to be removed.
Default Characters
is the set of nonbreakable whitespace codepoints, defined as Pattern_White_Space in Unicode Standard Annex #31
. By default, Dir
is both
.
Notice that [$\r,$\n]
is one grapheme cluster according to the Unicode Standard.
Example:
1> string:trim("\t Hello \n"). "Hello" 2> string:trim(<<"\t Hello \n">>, leading). <<"Hello \n">> 3> string:trim(<<".Hello.\n">>, trailing, "\n."). <<".Hello">>
uppercase(String :: unicode:chardata() ) -> unicode:chardata() | OTP 20.0 |
Converts String
to uppercase.
See also titlecase/1
.
Example:
1> string:uppercase("Michał"). "MICHAŁ"
Obsolete API functions
Here follows the function of the old API. These functions only work on a list of Latin-1 characters.
The functions are kept for backward compatibility, but are not recommended. They will be deprecated in a future release.
Any undocumented functions in string
are not to be used.
Exports
centre(String, Number) -> Centered |
centre(String, Number, Character) -> Centered |
Types
Returns a string, where String
is centered in the string and surrounded by blanks or Character
. The resulting string has length Number
.
chars(Character, Number) -> String |
chars(Character, Number, Tail) -> String |
Types
Returns a string consisting of Number
characters Character
. Optionally, the string can end with string Tail
.
This function is obsolete
. Use lists:duplicate/2
.
chr(String, Character) -> Index |
Types
Returns the index of the first occurrence of Character
in String
. Returns 0
if Character
does not occur.
concat(String1, String2) -> String3 |
Types
Concatenates String1
and String2
to form a new string String3
, which is returned.
This function is obsolete
. Use [String1, String2]
as Data
argument, and call unicode:characters_to_list/2
or unicode:characters_to_binary/2
to flatten the output.
copies(String, Number) -> Copies |
Types
Returns a string containing String
repeated Number
times.
This function is obsolete
. Use lists:duplicate/2
.
cspan(String, Chars) -> Length |
Types
Returns the length of the maximum initial segment of String
, which consists entirely of characters not from Chars
.
This function is obsolete
. Use take/3
.
Example:
> string:cspan("\t abcdef", " \t"). 0
join(StringList, Separator) -> String |
Types
Returns a string with the elements of StringList
separated by the string in Separator
.
This function is obsolete
. Use lists:join/2
.
Example:
> join(["one", "two", "three"], ", "). "one, two, three"
left(String, Number) -> Left |
left(String, Number, Character) -> Left |
Types
Returns String
with the length adjusted in accordance with Number
. The left margin is fixed. If length(String)
< Number
, then String
is padded with blanks or Character
s.
This function is obsolete
. Use pad/2
or pad/3
.
Example:
> string:left("Hello",10,$.). "Hello....."
len(String) -> Length |
Types
rchr(String, Character) -> Index |
Types
Returns the index of the last occurrence of Character
in String
. Returns 0
if Character
does not occur.
right(String, Number) -> Right |
right(String, Number, Character) -> Right |
Types
Returns String
with the length adjusted in accordance with Number
. The right margin is fixed. If the length of (String)
< Number
, then String
is padded with blanks or Character
s.
This function is obsolete
. Use pad/3
.
Example:
> string:right("Hello", 10, $.). ".....Hello"
rstr(String, SubString) -> Index |
Types
Returns the position where the last occurrence of SubString
begins in String
. Returns 0
if SubString
does not exist in String
.
This function is obsolete
. Use find/3
.
Example:
> string:rstr(" Hello Hello World World ", "Hello World"). 8
span(String, Chars) -> Length |
Types
Returns the length of the maximum initial segment of String
, which consists entirely of characters from Chars
.
This function is obsolete
. Use take/2
.
Example:
> string:span("\t abcdef", " \t"). 5
str(String, SubString) -> Index |
Types
Returns the position where the first occurrence of SubString
begins in String
. Returns 0
if SubString
does not exist in String
.
This function is obsolete
. Use find/2
.
Example:
> string:str(" Hello Hello World World ", "Hello World"). 8
strip(String :: string()) -> string() |
strip(String, Direction) -> Stripped |
strip(String, Direction, Character) -> Stripped |
Types
Returns a string, where leading or trailing, or both, blanks or a number of Character
have been removed. Direction
, which can be left
, right
, or both
, indicates from which direction blanks are to be removed. strip/1
is equivalent to strip(String, both)
.
This function is obsolete
. Use trim/3
.
Example:
> string:strip("...Hello.....", both, $.). "Hello"
sub_string(String, Start) -> SubString |
sub_string(String, Start, Stop) -> SubString |
Types
Returns a substring of String
, starting at position Start
to the end of the string, or to and including position Stop
.
This function is obsolete
. Use slice/3
.
Example:
sub_string("Hello World", 4, 8). "lo Wo"
substr(String, Start) -> SubString |
substr(String, Start, Length) -> SubString |
Types
Returns a substring of String
, starting at position Start
, and ending at the end of the string or at length Length
.
This function is obsolete
. Use slice/3
.
Example:
> substr("Hello World", 4, 5). "lo Wo"
sub_word(String, Number) -> Word |
sub_word(String, Number, Character) -> Word |
Types
Returns the word in position Number
of String
. Words are separated by blanks or Character
s.
This function is obsolete
. Use nth_lexeme/3
.
Example:
> string:sub_word(" Hello old boy !",3,$o). "ld b"
to_lower(String) -> Result |
to_lower(Char) -> CharResult |
to_upper(String) -> Result |
to_upper(Char) -> CharResult |
Types
The specified string or character is case-converted. Notice that the supported character set is ISO/IEC 8859-1 (also called Latin 1); all values outside this set are unchanged
This function is obsolete
use lowercase/1
, uppercase/1
, titlecase/1
or casefold/1
.
tokens(String, SeparatorList) -> Tokens |
Types
Returns a list of tokens in String
, separated by the characters in SeparatorList
.
Example:
> tokens("abc defxxghix jkl", "x "). ["abc", "def", "ghi", "jkl"]
Notice that, as shown in this example, two or more adjacent separator characters in String
are treated as one. That is, there are no empty strings in the resulting list of tokens.
words(String) -> Count |
words(String, Character) -> Count |
Types
Notes
Some of the general string functions can seem to overlap each other. The reason is that this string package is the combination of two earlier packages and all functions of both packages have been retained.
© 2010–2021 Ericsson AB
Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0.