# HG changeset patch # User Chong Yidong # Date 1235262166 0 # Node ID 8cd0e73c30f76065d12fab8c04698db4ba60d54c # Parent d23669b68ef263949dc99fbc8bd09000f1faa234 (Creating Strings): Copyedits. Remove obsolete Emacs 20 usage of `concat'. (Case Conversion): Copyedits. diff -r d23669b68ef2 -r 8cd0e73c30f7 doc/lispref/strings.texi --- a/doc/lispref/strings.texi Sun Feb 22 00:20:17 2009 +0000 +++ b/doc/lispref/strings.texi Sun Feb 22 00:22:46 2009 +0000 @@ -61,15 +61,13 @@ Sometimes key sequences are represented as unibyte strings. When a unibyte string is a key sequence, string elements in the range 128 to 255 represent meta characters (which are large integers) rather than -character codes in the range 128 to 255. - - Strings cannot hold characters that have the hyper, super or alt -modifiers; they can hold @acronym{ASCII} control characters, but no other -control characters. They do not distinguish case in @acronym{ASCII} control -characters. If you want to store such characters in a sequence, such as -a key sequence, you must use a vector instead of a string. -@xref{Character Type}, for more information about the representation of meta -and other modifiers for keyboard input characters. +character codes in the range 128 to 255. Strings cannot hold +characters that have the hyper, super or alt modifiers; they can hold +@acronym{ASCII} control characters, but no other control characters. +They do not distinguish case in @acronym{ASCII} control characters. +If you want to store such characters in a sequence, such as a key +sequence, you must use a vector instead of a string. @xref{Character +Type}, for more information about keyboard input characters. Strings are useful for holding regular expressions. You can also match regular expressions against strings with @code{string-match} @@ -155,11 +153,11 @@ @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. +In the above example, the index for @samp{a} is 0, the index for +@samp{b} is 1, and the index for @samp{c} is 2. The index 3---which +is the the fourth character in the string---marks the character +position up to which the substring is copied. Thus, @samp{abc} is +copied from the string @code{"abcdefg"}. 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: @@ -256,16 +254,9 @@ @end example @noindent -The @code{concat} function always constructs a new string that is -not @code{eq} to any existing string, except when the result is empty -(since empty strings are canonicalized to save space). - -In Emacs versions before 21, when an argument was an integer (not a -sequence of integers), it was converted to a string of digits making up -the decimal printed representation of the integer. This obsolete usage -no longer works. The proper way to convert an integer to its decimal -printed form is with @code{format} (@pxref{Formatting Strings}) or -@code{number-to-string} (@pxref{String Conversion}). +This function always constructs a new string that is not @code{eq} to +any existing string, except when the result is the empty string (to +save space, Emacs makes only one empty multibyte string). For information about other concatenation functions, see the description of @code{mapconcat} in @ref{Mapping Functions}, @@ -276,20 +267,19 @@ @end defun @defun split-string string &optional separators omit-nulls -This function splits @var{string} into substrings at matches for the -regular expression @var{separators}. Each match for @var{separators} -defines a splitting point; the substrings between the splitting points -are made into a list, which is the value returned by -@code{split-string}. +This function splits @var{string} into substrings based on the regular +expression @var{separators} (@pxref{Regular Expressions}). Each match +for @var{separators} defines a splitting point; the substrings between +splitting points are made into a list, which is returned. -If @var{omit-nulls} is @code{nil}, the result contains null strings -whenever there are two consecutive matches for @var{separators}, or a -match is adjacent to the beginning or end of @var{string}. If -@var{omit-nulls} is @code{t}, these null strings are omitted from the -result. +If @var{omit-nulls} is @code{nil} (or omitted), the result contains +null strings whenever there are two consecutive matches for +@var{separators}, or a match is adjacent to the beginning or end of +@var{string}. If @var{omit-nulls} is @code{t}, these null strings are +omitted from the result. -If @var{separators} is @code{nil} (or omitted), -the default is the value of @code{split-string-default-separators}. +If @var{separators} is @code{nil} (or omitted), the default is the +value of @code{split-string-default-separators}. As a special case, when @var{separators} is @code{nil} (or omitted), null strings are always omitted from the result. Thus: @@ -441,9 +431,9 @@ @code{equal} if and only if they contain the same sequence of character codes and all these codes are either in the range 0 through 127 (@acronym{ASCII}) or 160 through 255 (@code{eight-bit-graphic}). -However, when a unibyte string gets converted to a multibyte string, -all characters with codes in the range 160 through 255 get converted -to characters with higher codes, whereas @acronym{ASCII} characters +However, when a unibyte string is converted to a multibyte string, all +characters with codes in the range 160 through 255 are converted to +characters with higher codes, whereas @acronym{ASCII} characters remain unchanged. Thus, a unibyte string and its conversion to multibyte are only @code{equal} if the string is all @acronym{ASCII}. Character codes 160 through 255 are not entirely proper in multibyte @@ -549,7 +539,7 @@ @xref{Association Lists}. @end defun - See also the @code{compare-buffer-substrings} function in + See also the function @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 @@ -560,14 +550,14 @@ @section Conversion of Characters and Strings @cindex conversion of strings - This section describes functions for conversions between characters, -strings and integers. @code{format} (@pxref{Formatting Strings}) -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. The functions -@code{string-make-multibyte} and @code{string-make-unibyte} convert the -text representation of a string (@pxref{Converting Representations}). + This section describes functions for converting between characters, +strings and integers. @code{format} (@pxref{Formatting Strings}) 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. The functions @code{string-make-multibyte} and +@code{string-make-unibyte} convert the text representation of a string +(@pxref{Converting Representations}). @xref{Documentation}, for functions that produce textual descriptions of text characters and general input events @@ -689,10 +679,10 @@ @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 constant string -controls how the other values are printed, as well as where they appear; -it is called a @dfn{format string}. + @dfn{Formatting} means constructing a string by substituting +computed values at various places in a constant string. This constant +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 @@ -936,15 +926,15 @@ @acronym{ASCII} codes 88 and 120 respectively. @defun downcase string-or-char -This function converts a character or a string to lower case. +This function converts @var{string-or-char}, which should be either 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. +When @var{string-or-char} is a string, this function returns a new +string in which each letter in the argument that is upper case is +converted to lower case. When @var{string-or-char} is a character, +this function returns the corresponding lower case character (an +integer); if the original character is lower case, or is not a letter, +the return value is equal to the original character. @example (downcase "The cat in the hat") @@ -956,16 +946,15 @@ @end defun @defun upcase string-or-char -This function converts a character or a string to upper case. +This function converts @var{string-or-char}, which should be either 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 returned equals the original character. +When @var{string-or-char} is a string, this function returns a new +string in which each letter in the argument that is lower case is +converted to upper case. When @var{string-or-char} is a character, +this function returns the corresponding upper case character (an an +integer); if the original character is upper case, or is not a letter, +the return value is equal to the original character. @example (upcase "The cat in the hat") @@ -979,9 +968,9 @@ @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 +@var{string-or-char} is a string, the function 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. @@ -989,8 +978,8 @@ are assigned to the word constituent syntax class in the current syntax table (@pxref{Syntax Class Table}). -When the argument to @code{capitalize} is a character, @code{capitalize} -has the same result as @code{upcase}. +When @var{string-or-char} is a character, this function does the same +thing as @code{upcase}. @example @group @@ -1084,13 +1073,13 @@ @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 + When constructing a case table, you can provide @code{nil} for @var{canonicalize}; then Emacs fills in this slot from the lower case and upper case mappings. You can also provide @code{nil} for @var{equivalences}; then Emacs fills in this slot 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}. +components are non-@code{nil}. Do not try to specify +@var{equivalences} without also specifying @var{canonicalize}. Here are the functions for working with case tables: @@ -1125,7 +1114,7 @@ Exits}). @end defmac - Some language environments may modify the case conversions of + Some language environments modify the case conversions of @acronym{ASCII} characters; for example, in the Turkish language environment, the @acronym{ASCII} character @samp{I} is downcased into a Turkish ``dotless i''. This can interfere with code that requires