[This functionality will appear in Exponential 3.2.]
The string template class provides functionality for basic manipulation of strings. The table below contains a quick summary along with a short description of the currently available string operators. At the time of writing these operators only work with ASCII strings (except the ord and chr operator). Future versions will also work with Unicode. Detailed description of each operator can be found under this overview. You can also click on the name of an operator to jump to the corresponding description within this page.

Some string operators also work with arrays, they are documented under Array handling.

Operator	Short description
upcase	Converts all alphabetical characters to uppercase.
downcase	Converts all alphabetical characters to lowercase.
count_words	Counts and returns the number of words found within a string.
count_chars	Counts and returns the number of characters (string length).
trim	Strips whitespace from beginning and/or end of a string.
break	Inserts HTML line breaks instead of newlines.
wrap	Wraps text to lines at a specified length.
upfirst	Converts the first character to uppercase.
upword	Converts all the first characters (in all words) to uppercase.
simplify	Transforms multiple consecutive characters into one.
wash	General text wash. Translates bogus strings to friendly ones.
chr	Returns a desired sequence of characters.
ord	Returns the ASCII/Unicode value of characters in a string.
shorten	Shortens a string to a few characters and adds a trailing sequence.
pad	Makes sure a string is at least n characters long.

upcase

Short summary:
Converts all alphabetical characters to uppercase.

Usage:
$string|upcase( no parameters)

Full description:
This operator takes a string as input and returns it with all its alphabetical characters converted to uppercase.

Example(s):

{"My string is lame!"|upcase}

returns the string "MY STRING IS LAME!"

downcase

Short summary:
Converts all alphabetical characters to lowercase.

Usage:
$string|downcase( no parameters)

Full description:
This operator takes a string as input and returns it with all its alphabetical characters converted to lowercase.

Example(s):

{"My String Is CoOl!"|downcase}

returns the string "my string is cool!"

count_words

Short summary:
Counts and returns the number of words.

Usage:
$string|count_words( no parameters)

Full description:
This operator simply counts and returns the number of words (all of them) that are found within the inputted string.

Example(s):

{"Where do you want to publish today?"|count_words}

returns an integer with its value set to 7

count_chars

Short summary:
Counts and returns the number of characters (string length).

Usage:
$string|count_chars( no parameters)

Full description:
This operator simply counts and returns the number of characters (all of them) that are found within the inputted string. It basically returns the actual length of the string.

Example(s):

{"General protection fault!"|count_chars}

returns an integer with its value set to 25

trim

Short summary:
Strips whitespace from beginning and/or end.

Usage:
$string|trim( no parameters)

Full description:
The trim operator can be used to remove any unwanted whitespace from the beginning and/or the end of a string. Trim will get rid of the following characters:

" "	(ASCII 32 (0x20)), an ordinary space.
" "	(ASCII 9 (0x09)), a tab.
""	(ASCII 10 (0x0A)), a new line (line feed).
""	(ASCII 13 (0x0D)), a carriage return.
""	(ASCII 0 (0x00)), the NUL-byte.
"x0B"	(ASCII 11 (0x0B)), a vertical tab.

Example(s):

{"    Gizmo is not a gremlin.  "|trim}

returns the string "Gizmo is not a gremlin."

break

Short summary:
Inserts HTML line breaks instead of newlines.

Usage:
$string|break( no parameters)

Full description:
This operator replaces any newline characters/sequences with a HTML break tag.

Example(s):

{"The lazy white

cat

jumps over

the quick hamster.

"|break}

 

returns the string "The lazy white<br />cat<br />jumps over<br />the quick hamster."

wrap

Short summary:
Wraps text to lines at a specified length.

Usage:
$string|wrap( [integer width [, string break_sequence [, boolean cut]]])

Full description:
By inserting newline ('') characters into the inputted string, this operator wraps a given text at a specified position. If the width parameter is omitted, it will automatically wrap at 80 (default specified in __FIX_ME__.ini). The break_sequence parameter specifies a string containing the desired break sequence to use, default is '' (newline). The cut parameter specifies wether the the string should always be wrapped at the specified width. In other words: if you have a word that is larger than the given width, it is broken apart.

Example(s):

{"Hello world"|wrap(5)}

returns the string "Hello
world"

upfirst

Short summary:
Converts the first character to uppercase.

Usage:
$string|upfirst( no parameters)

Full description:
This operator simply converts the first character of a string to uppercase. (The very first letter becomes a capital letter.)

Example(s):

{"good bye cruel world!"|upfirst}

returns the string "Good bye cruel world!"

upword

Short summary:
Converts all the first characters (in all words) to uppercase.

Usage:
$string|upword( no parameters)

Full description:
The upfirst operator converts the first character of every word in a string to uppercase.

Example(s):

{"commodore amiga user"|upword}

returns the string "Commodore Amiga User"

simplify

Short summary:
Transforms multiple consecutive characters into one.

Usage:
$string|simplify( [string char_to_simplify])

Full description:
Transforms multiple consecutive characters into one. If you have a string with a lot of unnecessary whitespace (or dashes, whatever), you can use this operator to remove the duplicates leaving only a single copy of each character. The desired character to simplify can be specified using the char_to_simplify parameter, which by default is set to whitespace. Regexp style is used to specify special characters, please refer to the table below:

	tab	(HT, TAB)
	newline	(LF, NL)
	return	(CR)
f	form feed	(FF)
a	alarm (bell)	(BEL)
e	escape (think troff)	(ESC)

Example(s):

{"this____string__is___annoying"|simplify("_"}

returns the string "this_string_is_annoying"

wash

Short summary:
Translates bogus strings to friendly ones.

Usage:
$string|wash( [string washing_type])

Full description:
General character/string washing operator. The first (and only) parameter specifies the washing type: email or xhtml; xhtml is default. If you have a string that contains bogus characters (or sequences) that could mess up your page, you should "wash" the string before outputting it. Please refer to the first example.

Example(s):

{"bogus string <"|wash}

 

returns the string "bogus string <"

{"president@whitehouse.gov"|wash("email")}

returns the string "president[at]whitehouse[dot]gov"

chr

Short summary:
Returns the ASCII/UNICODE value of characters.

Usage:
$string|chr( no parameters)

Full description:
Returns the ASCII/UNICODE value of characters in input string.

Example(s):

{"abcdef"|ord}

returns the array (97,98,99,100,101,102)

ord

Short summary:
Returns a string of desired characters.

Usage:
array(integers)|ord( no parameters)

Full description:
Returns a sequence/string of desired characters. The characters are specified by their ASCII/Unicode values and inputted as an integer-array to the operator.

Example(s):

{array(97,98,99)|ord}

returns the string "abc"

shorten

Short summary:
Shortens string to a few characters and adds a trailing sequence.

Usage:
$string|shorten( [integer length [,string trailing_sequence]])

Full description:
Shortens string to length characters and adds a trailing sequence. Length also includes the length of the trailing sequence. If the input string is shorter than length it will not be shortened. The default length is __FIX_ME__ and the default trailing sequence is "...". These defaults can be modified in the __FIX_ME__.ini file.

Example(s):

{"This string is too long and needs to be shortened!"|shorten(17)}

returns the string "This string is..."

pad

Short summary:
Makes sure a string is at least n characters long.

Usage:
$string|pad( [integer length [,string pad_character]])

Full description:
Makes sure that the input string is at least length characters long by inserting extra characters at the end (padding). It is possible to specify what character to use with the pad_character parameter. Default pad character is whitespace.

Example(s):

{"Too short!"|pad(16)}

returns the string "Too short! "

{"Too short!"|pad(16,"-")}

returns the string "Too short!------"