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author | Richard M. Stallman <rms@gnu.org> |
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date | Sun, 24 Jul 1994 20:01:13 +0000 |
parents | 782646fc7505 |
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@c -*-texinfo-*- @c This is part of the GNU Emacs Lisp Reference Manual. @c Copyright (C) 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994 Free Software Foundation, Inc. @c See the file elisp.texi for copying conditions. @setfilename ../info/strings @node Strings and Characters, Lists, Numbers, Top @comment node-name, next, previous, up @chapter Strings and Characters @cindex strings @cindex character arrays @cindex characters @cindex bytes A string in Emacs Lisp is an array that contains an ordered sequence of characters. Strings are used as names of symbols, buffers, and files, to send messages to users, to hold text being copied between buffers, and for many other purposes. Because strings are so important, Emacs Lisp has many functions expressly for manipulating them. Emacs Lisp programs use strings more often than individual characters. @xref{Strings of Events}, for special considerations for strings of keyboard character events. @menu * Basics: String Basics. Basic properties of strings and characters. * Predicates for Strings:: Testing whether an object is a string or char. * Creating Strings:: Functions to allocate new strings. * Text Comparison:: Comparing characters or strings. * String Conversion:: Converting characters or strings and vice versa. * Formatting Strings:: @code{format}: Emacs's analog of @code{printf}. * Character Case:: Case conversion functions. * Case Table:: Customizing case conversion. @end menu @node String Basics @section String and Character Basics Strings in Emacs Lisp are arrays that contain an ordered sequence of characters. Characters are represented in Emacs Lisp as integers; whether an integer was intended as a character or not is determined only by how it is used. Thus, strings really contain integers. The length of a string (like any array) is fixed and independent of the string contents, and cannot be altered. Strings in Lisp are @emph{not} terminated by a distinguished character code. (By contrast, strings in C are terminated by a character with @sc{ASCII} code 0.) This means that any character, including the null character (@sc{ASCII} code 0), is a valid element of a string.@refill Since strings are considered arrays, you can operate on them with the general array functions. (@xref{Sequences Arrays Vectors}.) For example, you can access or change individual characters in a string using the functions @code{aref} and @code{aset} (@pxref{Array Functions}). Each character in a string is stored in a single byte. Therefore, numbers not in the range 0 to 255 are truncated when stored into a string. This means that a string takes up much less memory than a vector of the same length. Sometimes key sequences are represented as strings. When a string is a key sequence, string elements in the range 128 to 255 represent meta characters (which are extremely large integers) rather than keyboard events in the range 128 to 255. Strings cannot hold characters that have the hyper, super or alt modifiers; they can hold @sc{ASCII} control characters, but no other control characters. They do not distinguish case in @sc{ASCII} control characters. @xref{Character Type}, for more information about representation of meta and other modifiers for keyboard input characters. Like a buffer, a string can contain text properties for the characters in it, as well as the characters themselves. @xref{Text Properties}. @xref{Text}, for information about functions that display strings or copy them into buffers. @xref{Character Type}, and @ref{String Type}, for information about the syntax of characters and strings. @node Predicates for Strings @section The Predicates for Strings For more information about general sequence and array predicates, see @ref{Sequences Arrays Vectors}, and @ref{Arrays}. @defun stringp object This function returns @code{t} if @var{object} is a string, @code{nil} otherwise. @end defun @defun char-or-string-p object This function returns @code{t} if @var{object} is a string or a character (i.e., an integer), @code{nil} otherwise. @end defun @node Creating Strings @section Creating Strings The following functions create strings, either from scratch, or by putting strings together, or by taking them apart. @defun make-string count character This function returns a string made up of @var{count} repetitions of @var{character}. If @var{count} is negative, an error is signaled. @example (make-string 5 ?x) @result{} "xxxxx" (make-string 0 ?x) @result{} "" @end example Other functions to compare with this one include @code{char-to-string} (@pxref{String Conversion}), @code{make-vector} (@pxref{Vectors}), and @code{make-list} (@pxref{Building Lists}). @end defun @defun substring string start &optional end This function returns a new string which consists of those characters from @var{string} in the range from (and including) the character at the index @var{start} up to (but excluding) the character at the index @var{end}. The first character is at index zero. @example @group (substring "abcdefg" 0 3) @result{} "abc" @end group @end example @noindent Here the index for @samp{a} is 0, the index for @samp{b} is 1, and the index for @samp{c} is 2. Thus, three letters, @samp{abc}, are copied from the string @code{"abcdefg"}. The index 3 marks the character position up to which the substring is copied. The character whose index is 3 is actually the fourth character in the string. A negative number counts from the end of the string, so that @minus{}1 signifies the index of the last character of the string. For example: @example @group (substring "abcdefg" -3 -1) @result{} "ef" @end group @end example @noindent In this example, the index for @samp{e} is @minus{}3, the index for @samp{f} is @minus{}2, and the index for @samp{g} is @minus{}1. Therefore, @samp{e} and @samp{f} are included, and @samp{g} is excluded. When @code{nil} is used as an index, it stands for the length of the string. Thus, @example @group (substring "abcdefg" -3 nil) @result{} "efg" @end group @end example Omitting the argument @var{end} is equivalent to specifying @code{nil}. It follows that @code{(substring @var{string} 0)} returns a copy of all of @var{string}. @example @group (substring "abcdefg" 0) @result{} "abcdefg" @end group @end example @noindent But we recommend @code{copy-sequence} for this purpose (@pxref{Sequence Functions}). A @code{wrong-type-argument} error is signaled if either @var{start} or @var{end} is not an integer or @code{nil}. An @code{args-out-of-range} error is signaled if @var{start} indicates a character following @var{end}, or if either integer is out of range for @var{string}. Contrast this function with @code{buffer-substring} (@pxref{Buffer Contents}), which returns a string containing a portion of the text in the current buffer. The beginning of a string is at index 0, but the beginning of a buffer is at index 1. @end defun @defun concat &rest sequences @cindex copying strings @cindex concatenating strings This function returns a new string consisting of the characters in the arguments passed to it. The arguments may be strings, lists of numbers, or vectors of numbers; they are not themselves changed. If @code{concat} receives no arguments, it returns an empty string. @example (concat "abc" "-def") @result{} "abc-def" (concat "abc" (list 120 (+ 256 121)) [122]) @result{} "abcxyz" ;; @r{@code{nil} is an empty sequence.} (concat "abc" nil "-def") @result{} "abc-def" (concat "The " "quick brown " "fox.") @result{} "The quick brown fox." (concat) @result{} "" @end example @noindent The second example above shows how characters stored in strings are taken modulo 256. In other words, each character in the string is stored in one byte. The @code{concat} function always constructs a new string that is not @code{eq} to any existing string. When an argument is an integer (not a sequence of integers), it is converted to a string of digits making up the decimal printed representation of the integer. This special case exists for compatibility with Mocklisp, and we don't recommend you take advantage of it. If you want to convert an integer to digits in this way, use @code{format} (@pxref{Formatting Strings}) or @code{number-to-string} (@pxref{String Conversion}). @example @group (concat 137) @result{} "137" (concat 54 321) @result{} "54321" @end group @end example For information about other concatenation functions, see the description of @code{mapconcat} in @ref{Mapping Functions}, @code{vconcat} in @ref{Vectors}, and @code{append} in @ref{Building Lists}. @end defun @node Text Comparison @section Comparison of Characters and Strings @cindex string equality @defun char-equal character1 character2 This function returns @code{t} if the arguments represent the same character, @code{nil} otherwise. This function ignores differences in case if @code{case-fold-search} is non-@code{nil}. @example (char-equal ?x ?x) @result{} t (char-to-string (+ 256 ?x)) @result{} "x" (char-equal ?x (+ 256 ?x)) @result{} t @end example @end defun @defun string= string1 string2 This function returns @code{t} if the characters of the two strings match exactly; case is significant. @example (string= "abc" "abc") @result{} t (string= "abc" "ABC") @result{} nil (string= "ab" "ABC") @result{} nil @end example @end defun @defun string-equal string1 string2 @code{string-equal} is another name for @code{string=}. @end defun @cindex lexical comparison @defun string< string1 string2 @c (findex string< causes problems for permuted index!!) This function compares two strings a character at a time. First it scans both the strings at once to find the first pair of corresponding characters that do not match. If the lesser character of those two is the character from @var{string1}, then @var{string1} is less, and this function returns @code{t}. If the lesser character is the one from @var{string2}, then @var{string1} is greater, and this function returns @code{nil}. If the two strings match entirely, the value is @code{nil}. Pairs of characters are compared by their @sc{ASCII} codes. Keep in mind that lower case letters have higher numeric values in the @sc{ASCII} character set than their upper case counterparts; numbers and many punctuation characters have a lower numeric value than upper case letters. @example @group (string< "abc" "abd") @result{} t (string< "abd" "abc") @result{} nil (string< "123" "abc") @result{} t @end group @end example When the strings have different lengths, and they match up to the length of @var{string1}, then the result is @code{t}. If they match up to the length of @var{string2}, the result is @code{nil}. A string of no characters is less than any other string. @example @group (string< "" "abc") @result{} t (string< "ab" "abc") @result{} t (string< "abc" "") @result{} nil (string< "abc" "ab") @result{} nil (string< "" "") @result{} nil @end group @end example @end defun @defun string-lessp string1 string2 @code{string-lessp} is another name for @code{string<}. @end defun See also @code{compare-buffer-substrings} in @ref{Comparing Text}, for a way to compare text in buffers. The function @code{string-match}, which matches a regular expression against a string, can be used for a kind of string comparison; see @ref{Regexp Search}. @node String Conversion @comment node-name, next, previous, up @section Conversion of Characters and Strings @cindex conversion of strings This section describes functions for conversions between characters, strings and integers. @code{format} and @code{prin1-to-string} (@pxref{Output Functions}) can also convert Lisp objects into strings. @code{read-from-string} (@pxref{Input Functions}) can ``convert'' a string representation of a Lisp object into an object. @xref{Documentation}, for functions that produce textual descriptions of text characters and general input events (@code{single-key-description} and @code{text-char-description}). These functions are used primarily for making help messages. @defun char-to-string character @cindex character to string This function returns a new string with a length of one character. The value of @var{character}, modulo 256, is used to initialize the element of the string. This function is similar to @code{make-string} with an integer argument of 1. (@xref{Creating Strings}.) This conversion can also be done with @code{format} using the @samp{%c} format specification. (@xref{Formatting Strings}.) @example (char-to-string ?x) @result{} "x" (char-to-string (+ 256 ?x)) @result{} "x" (make-string 1 ?x) @result{} "x" @end example @end defun @defun string-to-char string @cindex string to character This function returns the first character in @var{string}. If the string is empty, the function returns 0. The value is also 0 when the first character of @var{string} is the null character, @sc{ASCII} code 0. @example (string-to-char "ABC") @result{} 65 (string-to-char "xyz") @result{} 120 (string-to-char "") @result{} 0 (string-to-char "\000") @result{} 0 @end example This function may be eliminated in the future if it does not seem useful enough to retain. @end defun @defun number-to-string number @cindex integer to string @cindex integer to decimal This function returns a string consisting of the printed representation of @var{number}, which may be an integer or a floating point number. The value starts with a sign if the argument is negative. @example (number-to-string 256) @result{} "256" (number-to-string -23) @result{} "-23" (number-to-string -23.5) @result{} "-23.5" @end example @cindex int-to-string @code{int-to-string} is a semi-obsolete alias for this function. See also the function @code{format} in @ref{Formatting Strings}. @end defun @defun string-to-number string @cindex string to number This function returns the numeric value of the characters in @var{string}, read in base ten. It skips spaces and tabs at the beginning of @var{string}, then reads as much of @var{string} as it can interpret as a number. (On some systems it ignores other whitespace at the beginning, not just spaces and tabs.) If the first character after the ignored whitespace is not a digit or a minus sign, this function returns 0. @example (string-to-number "256") @result{} 256 (string-to-number "25 is a perfect square.") @result{} 25 (string-to-number "X256") @result{} 0 (string-to-number "-4.5") @result{} -4.5 @end example @findex string-to-int @code{string-to-int} is an obsolete alias for this function. @end defun @node Formatting Strings @comment node-name, next, previous, up @section Formatting Strings @cindex formatting strings @cindex strings, formatting them @dfn{Formatting} means constructing a string by substitution of computed values at various places in a constant string. This string controls how the other values are printed as well as where they appear; it is called a @dfn{format string}. Formatting is often useful for computing messages to be displayed. In fact, the functions @code{message} and @code{error} provide the same formatting feature described here; they differ from @code{format} only in how they use the result of formatting. @defun format string &rest objects This function returns a new string that is made by copying @var{string} and then replacing any format specification in the copy with encodings of the corresponding @var{objects}. The arguments @var{objects} are the computed values to be formatted. @end defun @cindex @samp{%} in format @cindex format specification A format specification is a sequence of characters beginning with a @samp{%}. Thus, if there is a @samp{%d} in @var{string}, the @code{format} function replaces it with the printed representation of one of the values to be formatted (one of the arguments @var{objects}). For example: @example @group (format "The value of fill-column is %d." fill-column) @result{} "The value of fill-column is 72." @end group @end example If @var{string} contains more than one format specification, the format specifications correspond with successive values from @var{objects}. Thus, the first format specification in @var{string} uses the first such value, the second format specification uses the second such value, and so on. Any extra format specifications (those for which there are no corresponding values) cause unpredictable behavior. Any extra values to be formatted are ignored. Certain format specifications require values of particular types. However, no error is signaled if the value actually supplied fails to have the expected type. Instead, the output is likely to be meaningless. Here is a table of valid format specifications: @table @samp @item %s Replace the specification with the printed representation of the object, made without quoting. Thus, strings are represented by their contents alone, with no @samp{"} characters, and symbols appear without @samp{\} characters. If there is no corresponding object, the empty string is used. @item %S Replace the specification with the printed representation of the object, made with quoting. Thus, strings are enclosed in @samp{"} characters, and @samp{\} characters appear where necessary before special characters. If there is no corresponding object, the empty string is used. @item %o @cindex integer to octal Replace the specification with the base-eight representation of an integer. @item %d Replace the specification with the base-ten representation of an integer. @item %x @cindex integer to hexadecimal Replace the specification with the base-sixteen representation of an integer. @item %c Replace the specification with the character which is the value given. @item %e Replace the specification with the exponential notation for a floating point number. @item %f Replace the specification with the decimal-point notation for a floating point number. @item %g Replace the specification with notation for a floating point number, using either exponential notation or decimal-point notation whichever is shorter. @item %% A single @samp{%} is placed in the string. This format specification is unusual in that it does not use a value. For example, @code{(format "%% %d" 30)} returns @code{"% 30"}. @end table Any other format character results in an @samp{Invalid format operation} error. Here are several examples: @example @group (format "The name of this buffer is %s." (buffer-name)) @result{} "The name of this buffer is strings.texi." (format "The buffer object prints as %s." (current-buffer)) @result{} "The buffer object prints as #<buffer strings.texi>." (format "The octal value of %d is %o, and the hex value is %x." 18 18 18) @result{} "The octal value of 18 is 22, and the hex value is 12." @end group @end example @cindex numeric prefix @cindex field width @cindex padding All the specification characters allow an optional numeric prefix between the @samp{%} and the character. The optional numeric prefix defines the minimum width for the object. If the printed representation of the object contains fewer characters than this, then it is padded. The padding is on the left if the prefix is positive (or starts with zero) and on the right if the prefix is negative. The padding character is normally a space, but if the numeric prefix starts with a zero, zeros are used for padding. @example (format "%06d is padded on the left with zeros" 123) @result{} "000123 is padded on the left with zeros" (format "%-6d is padded on the right" 123) @result{} "123 is padded on the right" @end example @code{format} never truncates an object's printed representation, no matter what width you specify. Thus, you can use a numeric prefix to specify a minimum spacing between columns with no risk of losing information. In the following three examples, @samp{%7s} specifies a minimum width of 7. In the first case, the string inserted in place of @samp{%7s} has only 3 letters, so 4 blank spaces are inserted for padding. In the second case, the string @code{"specification"} is 13 letters wide but is not truncated. In the third case, the padding is on the right. @smallexample @group (format "The word `%7s' actually has %d letters in it." "foo" (length "foo")) @result{} "The word ` foo' actually has 3 letters in it." @end group @group (format "The word `%7s' actually has %d letters in it." "specification" (length "specification")) @result{} "The word `specification' actually has 13 letters in it." @end group @group (format "The word `%-7s' actually has %d letters in it." "foo" (length "foo")) @result{} "The word `foo ' actually has 3 letters in it." @end group @end smallexample @node Character Case @comment node-name, next, previous, up @section Character Case @cindex upper case @cindex lower case @cindex character case The character case functions change the case of single characters or of the contents of strings. The functions convert only alphabetic characters (the letters @samp{A} through @samp{Z} and @samp{a} through @samp{z}); other characters are not altered. The functions do not modify the strings that are passed to them as arguments. The examples below use the characters @samp{X} and @samp{x} which have @sc{ASCII} codes 88 and 120 respectively. @defun downcase string-or-char This function converts a character or a string to lower case. When the argument to @code{downcase} is a string, the function creates and returns a new string in which each letter in the argument that is upper case is converted to lower case. When the argument to @code{downcase} is a character, @code{downcase} returns the corresponding lower case character. This value is an integer. If the original character is lower case, or is not a letter, then the value equals the original character. @example (downcase "The cat in the hat") @result{} "the cat in the hat" (downcase ?X) @result{} 120 @end example @end defun @defun upcase string-or-char This function converts a character or a string to upper case. When the argument to @code{upcase} is a string, the function creates and returns a new string in which each letter in the argument that is lower case is converted to upper case. When the argument to @code{upcase} is a character, @code{upcase} returns the corresponding upper case character. This value is an integer. If the original character is upper case, or is not a letter, then the value equals the original character. @example (upcase "The cat in the hat") @result{} "THE CAT IN THE HAT" (upcase ?x) @result{} 88 @end example @end defun @defun capitalize string-or-char @cindex capitalization This function capitalizes strings or characters. If @var{string-or-char} is a string, the function creates and returns a new string, whose contents are a copy of @var{string-or-char} in which each word has been capitalized. This means that the first character of each word is converted to upper case, and the rest are converted to lower case. The definition of a word is any sequence of consecutive characters that are assigned to the word constituent syntax class in the current syntax table (@xref{Syntax Class Table}). When the argument to @code{capitalize} is a character, @code{capitalize} has the same result as @code{upcase}. @example (capitalize "The cat in the hat") @result{} "The Cat In The Hat" (capitalize "THE 77TH-HATTED CAT") @result{} "The 77th-Hatted Cat" @group (capitalize ?x) @result{} 88 @end group @end example @end defun @node Case Table @section The Case Table You can customize case conversion by installing a special @dfn{case table}. A case table specifies the mapping between upper case and lower case letters. It affects both the string and character case conversion functions (see the previous section) and those that apply to text in the buffer (@pxref{Case Changes}). You need a case table if you are using a language which has letters other than the standard @sc{ASCII} letters. A case table is a list of this form: @example (@var{downcase} @var{upcase} @var{canonicalize} @var{equivalences}) @end example @noindent where each element is either @code{nil} or a string of length 256. The element @var{downcase} says how to map each character to its lower-case equivalent. The element @var{upcase} maps each character to its upper-case equivalent. If lower and upper case characters are in one-to-one correspondence, use @code{nil} for @var{upcase}; then Emacs deduces the upcase table from @var{downcase}. For some languages, upper and lower case letters are not in one-to-one correspondence. There may be two different lower case letters with the same upper case equivalent. In these cases, you need to specify the maps for both directions. The element @var{canonicalize} maps each character to a canonical equivalent; any two characters that are related by case-conversion have the same canonical equivalent character. The element @var{equivalences} is a map that cyclicly permutes each equivalence class (of characters with the same canonical equivalent). (For ordinary @sc{ASCII}, this would map @samp{a} into @samp{A} and @samp{A} into @samp{a}, and likewise for each set of equivalent characters.) When you construct a case table, you can provide @code{nil} for @var{canonicalize}; then Emacs fills in this string from @var{upcase} and @var{downcase}. You can also provide @code{nil} for @var{equivalences}; then Emacs fills in this string from @var{canonicalize}. In a case table that is actually in use, those components are non-@code{nil}. Do not try to specify @var{equivalences} without also specifying @var{canonicalize}. Each buffer has a case table. Emacs also has a @dfn{standard case table} which is copied into each buffer when you create the buffer. Changing the standard case table doesn't affect any existing buffers. Here are the functions for working with case tables: @defun case-table-p object This predicate returns non-@code{nil} if @var{object} is a valid case table. @end defun @defun set-standard-case-table table This function makes @var{table} the standard case table, so that it will apply to any buffers created subsequently. @end defun @defun standard-case-table This returns the standard case table. @end defun @defun current-case-table This function returns the current buffer's case table. @end defun @defun set-case-table table This sets the current buffer's case table to @var{table}. @end defun The following three functions are convenient subroutines for packages that define non-@sc{ASCII} character sets. They modify a string @var{downcase-table} provided as an argument; this should be a string to be used as the @var{downcase} part of a case table. They also modify the standard syntax table. @xref{Syntax Tables}. @defun set-case-syntax-pair uc lc downcase-table This function specifies a pair of corresponding letters, one upper case and one lower case. @end defun @defun set-case-syntax-delims l r downcase-table This function makes characters @var{l} and @var{r} a matching pair of case-invariant delimiters. @end defun @defun set-case-syntax char syntax downcase-table This function makes @var{char} case-invariant, with syntax @var{syntax}. @end defun @deffn Command describe-buffer-case-table This command displays a description of the contents of the current buffer's case table. @end deffn @cindex ISO Latin 1 @pindex iso-syntax You can load the library @file{iso-syntax} to set up the standard syntax table and define a case table for the 256-bit ISO Latin 1 character set.