IsStyledString(string str)

Test if a string is a StyledString

Return

boolean: true or nil (for false).

IsNumeric(string str)

Is str representing a number?

Return

boolean: true or nil (for false)

Example

IsNumeric("-22.5") --> true
 IsNumeric("-.5") --> true
 IsNumeric(".12") --> true
 IsNumeric("0.12") --> true
 IsNumeric("1.") --> false
 IsNumeric("123abc") --> false

EscapePercent(string str)

Escape a string that contain a % that can be interpreted in Lua string functions like gsub.

Return

string: % are escaped by a %.

string_split(string s, string delim, int limit)

Split the string s by a string delimiter delim.

Return

table: An array of at least one item (s if delim is not found)

Example

local t = string_split("Hello World!", " ")
 print(t[1]) --> Hello
 print(t[2]) --> World!

string_split_lines(string s)

Split the string s by lines, handle \r, \n and \r\n.

Return

table: A table of at least one element (s if line separator is not found)

string_slice(string s, int sze, boolean fromEnd)

Slice the string into blocks of size, except last one that may be shorter.

Return

table: A table of slices of s

Error

if s is not a string, or size is not a positive number

string_join(table list, string delimiter)

Concat the elements of table list, separated by the string delimiter.

Return

string: string

Example

string_join({"Anna", "Bob", "Charlie", "Dolores"}, ", ")
 --> Anna, Bob, Charlie, Dolores

string_concat(string src, string delimiter, ...)

Concatenate toAdd after src with a delimiter, handles nil and empty string initialization.

• s is not concatenated if empty,
• delimiter is not inserted if src is nil or empty.

myList = string_concat(myList, ", ", "an item") is a a shortcut for myList = (myList and (myList..", ") or "") .. "an item" with more nil handling.

Return

string: string

Error

if s is nil

string_trim(string s, string toTrim, string side)

Removes toTrim at the beginning and the end of s.

Return

string: The trimmed string

Example

string_trim(" abcd\t")) --> "abcd"
 string_trim(" abcd\t", nil, "left") --> "abcd\t"
 string_trim(" abcd\t", "a \t") --> "bcd"
 string_trim(" abcd\t", "()") --> " abcd\t"

string_left(string str, int n)

Return the n leftmost chars of the string str.

Return

string: A string of strlen(str) to n chars: strsub(str, 1, n)

Error

if str is not a string or n <= 0

string_right(string str, int n)

Return the n rightmost chars of the string str.

Return

string: A string of strlen(str) to n chars: strsub(str, -n)

Error

if str is not a string or n <= 0

string_starts_with(string str, string leftStr)

Does str starts with leftStr?

Return

boolean: true if string_left(str, strlen(leftStr)) == leftStr, nil for false.

Error

if str is not a string, or strlen(leftStr) == 0

string_ends_with(string str, string rightStr)

Does str ends with rightStr?

Return

boolean: true if string_right(str, strlen(rightStr)) == rightStr, nil for false.

Error

if str is not a string, or strlen(rightStr) == 0

string_between(string str, string left, string right)

Return the portion of str found between left and right.

Return

string: nil if left or right are not found in str.

string_line_to_space(string str)

Replace line \r and \n characters by a space.

Return

string: string

excel_column_name(int n)

Returns the Excel column name of the n-th column.

"A" for 1, "B" for 2, "Z" for 26, "AA" for 27...

Return

string: string

Example

excel_column_name(123) --> "DS"

string_time(number seconds, boolean exact, boolean clockFormat)

Converts a time (music duration, debug chrono...) into readable string.

Return

string: "10 ms", "3 s 456 ms", "1 min 14 s", 00:03.010...

See

Stopwatch:new

Example

 s = 1.0102345 -- 1 second, 10,2345 ms
 print(string_time(s)) --> "1.01 s"
 print(string_time(s, true)) --> "1 s 10.234 ms"
 print(string_time(s, false, true)) --> "00:01.010"
 print(string_time(s, true, true)) --> "00:01.010234"
 s = s + 2*60 -- add 2 minutes
 print(string_time(s)) --> "2 min 1 s"
 print(string_time(s, true)) --> "2 min 1 s 10.234 ms"
 print(string_time(s, false, true)) --> "02:01.010"
 print(string_time(s, true, true)) --> "02:01.010234"

string_first(string a, string b)

Returns the first of a and b in alphabetical order.

Comparable to max(a,b) for numbers.

Return

string: string

Example

print(string_first("Hello", "Harmony")) --> "Harmony"

string_last(string a, string b)

Returns the last of a and b in alphabetical order.

Comparable to max(a,b) for numbers.

Return

string: string

Example

print(string_last("Harmony", "Assistant")) --> "Harmony"

SplitUrl(string url)

Split an URL into protocol, host, path, query and anchor.

Return

table: Table t with following structure for https://www.myriad-online.com/cgi-bin/bbs/YaBB.pl?board=MYRSCRIPT;action=display;num=1652718688#2

t.Protocol = "https"
 t.Host = "www.myriad-online.com"
 t.Path = "cgi-bin/bbs/YaBB.pl"
 t.Query = "board=MYRSCRIPT;action=display;num=1652718688"
 t.Anchor = "2"

Some of these field may be empty string or nil

Error

if url is nil or empty string

SplitPath(string path)

Split a path into directory and file, no file if path ends by a '/'.

Returns

string: directory

string: file name

RemoveDiacritics(string s)

Remove diacritics (accents) from the string s.

Return

The string without diacritics, e.g. 'á' is replaced by 'a'.

Error

if s is not a string

See

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diacritic

escape_lines(string s)

Escape lines \n and \r as well as tabs \t and backslash \, using backslashes \.

Return

string: escaped string.

See

unescape_lines

Example

 s = "string\twith\nnew line"
 print(s) --> string  with
          --> new line
 print(escape_lines(s)) --> string\twith\nnew line

unescape_lines(string s)

Unescape lines \n and \r as well as tabs \t and backslash \, escaped by backslashes.

Return

string: unescaped string ready to be printed.

See

escape_lines

Example

 s = "string\\twith\\nnew line"
 print(s) --> string\twith\nnew line
 print(unescape_lines(s)) --> string  with
                          --> new line

gsub_args(string str, ...)

Replace %1, %2 in str by first and second following arguments.

This is a convenient way to write the following code:
return gsub(gsub(str, "%%1", "1st value"), "%%2", "2nd value")

gsub return 2 value, the string and number of substitutions. Strangely, nested gsub accept the second returned value, but if you write gsub(str, 1, "%%2", "2nd value") you get an error.
But the second returned value may disturb your functions!
This variant return only the modified string, it may save you debugging headaches ;)

Return

string: The replaced string

Error

If one argument has unsupported type.

Example

 local s = "Hello %1, I want %2."
 print(gsub_args(s, "Bob", "bananas")) --> Hello Bob, I want bananas.