Chapter 15 ObjectScript - String Functions

String functions

ObjectScriptThere is also an extensive set of functions for working with strings efficiently:

$EXTRACTReturn or replace a substring using character counting.
$FINDFinds a substring by value and returns an integer specifying its ending position in the string.
$JUSTIFYReturns a right-justified string, padded with spaces on the left.
$ZCONVERTConvert a string from one form to another. It supports case conversion (to uppercase, lowercase, or title case) and encoding conversion (between various character encoding styles).
$TRANSLATEModifies the given string by performing character-by-character replacement.
$REPLACEPerforms a string-by-string replacement in a string and returns a new string.
$PIECEReturns a substring from a character-delimited string (often called a segmented string). Here's how to extract a substring:

 SET mystring="value 1^value 2^value 3"
 WRITE $PIECE(mystring,"^",1)

$LENGTHReturns the number of characters in the specified string or the number of delimited substrings in the specified string, depending on the arguments used.

 SET mystring="value 1^value 2^value 3"
 WRITE !, "Number of characters in this string: " 
 WRITE $LENGTH(mystring)
 WRITE !, "Number of pieces in this string: "
 WRITE $LENGTH(mystring,"^")

Use multidimensional arrays

The following functions can be used to process entire multidimensional arrays:

$ORDERAllows sequential access to each node in a multidimensional array.
$QUERYEnables access to each node and child node in the array, and moves up and down the child nodes.

To work with a single node from an array, you can use any of the functions described previously. especially:

$DATACan indicate whether a given node exists and whether the given node has children.
$GETGet the value of the given node, otherwise get the default value.

Character Values

Sometimes, when creating a string, you need to include characters that cannot be typed. For these, it is possible to use $CHAR.

Given an integer, $CHARreturn the corresponding ASCIIor Unicodecharacter. Common uses:

$CHAR(9)is a tab character.
$CHAR(10)is a newline character.
$CHAR(13)It's the carriage return character.
$CHAR(13,10)It's a carriage return and line feed pair.

Function $ASCIIreturns ASCIIthe value of the given character.