The Strings module provides comprehensive functionality for string manipulation, from basic operations to advanced templating. It handles strings as Unicode character collections and offers powerful pattern matching capabilities.

Key Concepts

• Full Unicode support
• String interpolation and templating
• Multiple string creation syntaxes
• Pattern matching and substitution
• Case conversion and manipulation

Basic Usage

String Creation

; basic strings
str: "hello world"

; multi-line strings
text: {
    This is a multi-line string
    that preserves formatting
    but strips common indentation
}

; verbatim strings (keep exact formatting)
code: {:
    def main():
        print("hello")
:}

; right smart-quote strings (everything until end of line)
message: « This is a single line string

; heredoc-style
data: 
------
Everything after the dashes
until the end of the file
is part of the string
------

Basic Operations

; concatenation
full: "hello " ++ "world"    ; hello world

; case conversion
upper "hello"               ; HELLO
lower "WORLD"               ; world
capitalize "john"           ; John

; checking content
prefix? "hello" "he"        ; => true
suffix? "hello" "lo"        ; => true
contains? "hello" "ll"      ; => true

; whitespace handling
strip " hello  "            ; hello
strip.start "  hi"          ; hi
strip.end "hi  "            ; hi

Pattern Matching

text: "hello world"

; using regex
match text {/o(.+)d/}    ; "o world"

; capturing matches
match.capture text {/([wrl]+)o/} 
; => ["ll" "w"]

; replace patterns
final: replace "hi there" "hi" "hello"
print final                  ; hello there

; with regex
result: replace "Date: 2024" {/\d+/} "2025"
print result                ; Date: 2025

Common Patterns

String Manipulation

; word wrapping
text: "This is a very long line that needs to be wrapped"
print wordwrap.at:20 text
; This is a very long
; line that needs to
; be wrapped

; truncating
print truncate "Hello World" 5      ; Hello...
print truncate.with:"..." "Hello World" 5  ; Hello...

; padding
print pad.right "Price:" 10         ; Price:    
print pad.center "Title" 20         ; -------Title--------

Working with Parts

text: "hello world"

; splitting
words: split.words text            
; ["hello" "world"]
chars: split text                  
; ["h" "e" "l" "l" "o" " " "w" "o" "r" "l" "d"]

; joining
print join.with:", " ["a" "b" "c"]      ; a, b, c

; slicing
print slice text 0 4                    ; hello

String Templates

Arturo's templating system uses pipe characters (|...|) for interpolation:

Simple Interpolation

name: "Bill"
age: 38

; basic interpolation
print ~"Hello |name|!"                  ; Hello Bill!
print ~"I am |age| years old"           ; I am 38 years old

; with expressions
print ~"Next year I'll be |age + 1|"    ; Next year I'll be 39

Conditional Templates

age: 30
template: {
    <||= (age > 21)? [ ||>
        You can enter the club
    <||][||>
        Sorry, too young
    <||]||>
}

print render.template template    
; You can enter the club

Loops in Templates

items: ["apple" "banana" "orange"]
template: {
    <ul>
        <|| loop items 'item [||>
            <li>
                <||= item ||>
            </li>
        <||]||>
    </ul>
}

print render.template template
; <ul>
;     <li>
;         apple
;     </li>
;     <li>
;         banana
;     </li>
;     <li>
;         orange
;     </li>
; </ul>

Advanced Template Features

users: @[
    #[name: "John" role: "admin"]
    #[name: "Alice" role: "user"]
]

template: {
    Users:
    <|| loop users 'user [||>
        * <||= user\name ||> 
          <||= user\role = "admin" [||>
            (Administrator)
          <||]||>
    <||]||>
}

print render.template template
; Users:
;     * John 
;       true
;     * Alice 
;       false