Strings recipes for the Dart Cookbook

recipes/src/core/strings.md

+# Strings
+
+A Dart string represents a sequence of characters encoded in UTF-16. Decoding
+UTF-16 yields Unicode code points. Borrowing terminology from Go, Dart uses
+the term `rune` for an integer representing a Unicode code point. 
+
+The string recipes included in this chapter assume that you have some
+familiarity with Unicode and UTF-16. Here is a brief refresher:
+
+### What is the Basic Multilingual Plane?
+
+The Unicode code space is divided into seventeen planes of 65,536 points each. 
+The first plane (code points U+0000 to U+FFFF) contains the most
+frequently used characters and is called the Basic Multilingual Plane or BMP.
+
+### What is a Surrogate Pair?
+
+The term 'surrogate pair' refers to a means of encoding Unicode characters
+outside the Basic Multilingual Plane.
+
+In UTF-16, two-byte (16-bit) code sequences are used to store Unicode
+characters. Since two bytes can only contain the 65,536 characters in the 0x0
+to 0xFFFF range, a pair of code points are used to store values in the
+0x10000 to 0x10FFFF range.
+
+For example the Unicode character for musical Treble-clef (🎼 ), with
+a value of '\u{1F3BC}', it too large to fit in 16 bits. 
+
+    var clef = '\u{1F3BC}'; // 🎼
+
+'\u{1F3BC}' is composed of a UTF-16 surrogate pair: [u\D83C, \uDFBC].
+
+### What is the difference between a code point and a code unit?
+
+Within the Basic Multilingual Plane, the code point for a character is
+numerically the same as the code unit for that character.
+
+    'D'.runes.first; // 68
+    'D'.codeUnits.first; // 68 
+
+For non-BMP characters, each code point is represented by two code units.
+
+    var clef = '\u{1F3BC}'; // 🎼
+    clef.runes.length; // 1
+    clef.codeUnits.length; // 2
+
+### What exactly is a character?
+
+A character is a string contained in the Universal Character Set. Each character
+maps to a single rune value (code point); BMP characters map to 1 code
+unit; non-BMP characters map to 2 code units. 
+
+You can read more about the Universal Character Set at
+http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Character_Set.
+
+### Do I have to really deal with Unicode?
+
+Yes, if you want to build robust international applications, you do.
+Besides, the String library makes working with Unicode relatively painless,
+so there's no great overhead in doing things right.
+
+## Concatenating Strings
+
+### Problem
+
+You want to concatenate strings in Dart. You tried using `+`, but
+that resulted in an error.
+
+### Solution
+
+Use adjacent string literals:
+
+    var fact = 'Dart'  'is' ' fun!'; // 'Dart is fun!'
+        
+### Discussion
+
+Adjacent literals also work over multiple lines:
+
+        var fact = 'Dart'
+        'is'
+        'fun!'; // 'Dart is fun!'
+
+They also work when using multiline strings:
+
+    var lunch = '''Peanut
+    butter'''
+    '''and
+    jelly'''; // 'Peanut\nbutter and\njelly'
+        
+You can concatenate adjacent single line literals with multiline strings:
+
+    var funnyGuys = 'Dewey ' 'Cheatem'
+    ''' and
+    Howe'''; // 'Dewey Cheatem and\n Howe'
+
+
+#### Alternatives to adjacent string literals
+
+You can also use the `concat()` method on a string to concatenate it to another

[floitsch, 2013/03/09 00:01:41]

I just gave an LGTM to Lasse for changing concat to String.+.
So you might want to wait for that to be committed and adapt this section.

+string:
+
+    var film = filmToWatch();
+    film = film.concat('\n');  // 'The Big Lebowski\n' 
+
+Since `concat()` creates a new string every time it is invoked, a long chain of
+`concat()`s can be expensive. Avoid those. Use a StringBuffer instead (see 
+_Incrementally building a string efficiently using a StringBuffer_, below).
+
+Use can `join()` to combine a sequence of strings:
+
+    var film = ['The', 'Big', 'Lebowski']).join(' '); // 'The Big Lebowski'
+        
+You can also use string interpolation to concatenate strings (see 
+_Interpolating expressions inside strings_, below).
+
+
+## Interpolating expressions inside strings
+
+### Problem
+
+You want to create strings that contain Dart expressions and identifiers.
+
+### Solution
+
+You can put the value of an expression inside a string by using ${expression}.
+
+    var favFood = 'sushi';
+    var whatDoILove = 'I love ${favFood.toUpperCase()}'; // 'I love SUSHI'
+
+You can skip the {} if the expression is an identifier:
+
+    var whatDoILove = 'I love $favFood'; // 'I love sushi'
+      
+### Discussion
+
+An interpolated string, `string ${expression}` is equivalent to the
+concatenation of the strings 'string ' and `expression.toString()`.
+Consider this code:
+
+    var four = 4;
+    var seasons = 'The $four seasons'; // 'The 4 seasons'
+        
+It is equivalent to the following:

[floitsch, 2013/03/09 00:01:41]

It is not. the concat will make two copies, whereas the string-interpolation
only copies into the result.
The result is equivalent, though.

+
+    var seasons = 'The '.concat(4.toString()).concat(' seasons'); // 'The 4 seasons'
+        
+You should consider implementing a `toString()` method for user-defined
+objects. Here's what happens if you don't:
+
+    class Point {
+      num x, y;
+      Point(this.x, this.y);
+    }
+    
+    var point = new Point(3, 4);
+    print('Point: $point'); // "Point: Instance of 'Point'"
+
+Probably not what you wanted. Here is the same example with an explicit
+`toString()`:
+
+    class Point {
+      ...
+            
+      String toString() => 'x: $x, y: $y';
+    }
+        
+    print('Point: $point'); // 'Point: x: 3, y: 4'
+
+
+## Escaping special characters
+
+### Problem 
+
+You want to put newlines, dollar signs, or other special characters in your strings.
+
+### Solution
+
+Prefix special characters with a `\`.
+
+          print(Wile\nCoyote'); 
+          // Wile
+          // Coyote
+
+### Discussion
+
+Dart designates a few characters as special, and these can be escaped:
+
+- \n for newline, equivalent to \x0A.
+- \r for carriage return, equivalent to \x0D.
+- \f for form feed, equivalent to \x0C.
+- \b for backspace, equivalent to \x08.
+- \t for tab, equivalent to \x09.
+- \v for vertical tab, equivalent to \x0B.
+
+If you prefer, you can use `\x` or `\u` notation to indicate the special
+character:
+
+    print('Wile\x0ACoyote');       // same as print('Wile\nCoyote'); 
+    print('Wile\u000ACoyote');     // same as print('Wile\nCoyote'); 
+
+You can also use `\u{}` notation:
+
+    print('Wile\u{000A}Coyote'); // same as print('Wile\nCoyote'); 
+
+You can also escape the `$` used in string interpolation:
+
+    var superGenius = 'Wile Coyote';
+    print('$superGenius and Road Runner');  // 'Wile Coyote and Road Runner'
+    print('\$superGenius and Road Runner'); // '$superGenius and Road Runner'
+
+If you escape a non-special character, the `\` is ignored:
+ 
+    print('Wile \E Coyote'); // 'Wile E Coyote'
+
+        
+## Incrementally building a string efficiently using a StringBuffer
+
+### Problem
+
+You want to collect string fragments and combine them in an efficient manner.
+
+### Solution
+
+Use a StringBuffer to programmatically generate a string. A StringBuffer 
+collects the string fragments, but does not generate a new string until
+`toString()` is called:
+
+    var sb = new StringBuffer();
+    sb.write('John, ');
+    sb.write('Paul, ');
+    sb.write('George, ');
+    sb.write('and Ringo');
+    var beatles = sb.toString(); // 'John, Paul, George, and Ringo'
+    
+### Discussion
+
+In addition to `write()`, the StringBuffer class provides methods to write a
+list of strings (`writeAll()`), write a numerical character code
+(`writeCharCode()`), write with an added newline ('writeln()`), and more. Here
+is a simple example that show the use of these methods:
+
+    var sb = new StringBuffer();
+    sb.writeln('The Beatles:');
+    sb.writeAll(['John, ', 'Paul, ', 'George, and Ringo']);
+    sb.writeCharCode(33); // charCode for '!'.
+    var beatles = sb.toString(); // 'The Beatles:\nJohn, Paul, George, and Ringo!' 
+
+Since a StringBuffer waits until the call to `toString()` to generate the
+concatenated string,  it represents a more efficient way of combining strings
+than `concat()`.  See the _Concatenating Strings_ recipe for a description of
+`concat()`.
+
+## Converting between string characters and numerical codes
+
+### Problem 
+
+You want to convert string characters into numerical codes and back.
+
+### Solution
+
+Use the `runes` getter to access a string's code points:
+
+    'Dart'.runes.toList(); // [68, 97, 114, 116]
+ 
+    var smileyFace = '\u263A'; // ☺
+    smileyFace.runes.toList(); // [9786]
+     
+The number 9786 represents the code unit '\u263A'.
+
+Use `string.codeUnits` to get a string's UTF-16 code units:
+    
+    'Dart'.codeUnits.toList(); // [68, 97, 114, 116]
+    smileyFace.codeUnits.toList(); // [9786]
+ 
+### Discussion
+
+Notice that using `runes` and `codeUnits` produces identical results
+in the examples above. That happens because each character in 'Dart' and in
+`smileyFace` fits within 16 bits, resulting in a code unit corresponding
+neatly with a code point.
+
+Consider an example where a character cannot be represented within 16-bits,
+the Unicode character for a Treble clef ('\u{1F3BC}'). This character consists
+of a surrogate pair: '\uD83C', '\uDFBC'. Getting the numerical value of this
+character using `codeUnits` and `runes` produces the following result:
+
+    var clef = '\u{1F3BC}'; // 🎼 
+    clef.codeUnits.toList(); // [55356, 57276]
+    clef.runes.toList(); // [127932]
+
+The numbers 55356 and 57276 represent `clef`'s surrogate pair, '\uD83C' and
+'\uDFBC', respectively. The number 127932 represents the code point '\u1F3BC'.
+
+#### Using codeUnitAt() to access individual code units
+
+To access the 16-Bit UTF-16 code unit at a particular index, use
+`codeUnitAt()`:
+
+    'Dart'.codeUnitAt(0); // 68
+    smileyFace.codeUnitAt(0); // 9786
+    
+Using `codeUnitAt()` with the multi-byte `clef` character leads to problems:
+
+    clef.codeUnitAt(0); // 55356
+    clef.codeUnitAt(1); // 57276
+
+In either call to `clef.codeUnitAt()`, the values returned represent strings
+that are only one half of a UTF-16 surrogate pair.  These are not valid UTF-16
+strings.
+
+
+#### Converting numerical codes to strings
+
+You can generate a new string from runes or code units using the factory 
+`String.fromCharCodes(charCodes)`:
+
+    new String.fromCharCodes([68, 97, 114, 116]); // 'Dart'
+        
+    new String.fromCharCodes([73, 32, 9825, 32, 76, 117, 99, 121]);
+    // 'I ♡ Lucy'
+
+    new String.fromCharCodes([55356, 57276]); // 🎼  
+    new String.fromCharCodes([127932]), // 🎼  
+
+You can use the `String.fromCharCode()` factory to convert a single rune or
+code unit to a string:
+
+    new String.fromCharCode(68); // 'D'
+    new String.fromCharCode(9786); // ☺
+    new String.fromCharCode(127932); // 🎼  
+
+Creating a string with only one half of a surrogate pair is permitted, but not
+recommended.
+
+## Determining if a string is empty
+
+### Problem
+
+You want to know if a string is empty. You tried ` if(string) {...}`, but that
+did not work.
+
+### Solution
+
+Use `string.isEmpty`:
+
+    var emptyString = '';
+        emptyString.isEmpty; // true
+        
+A string with a space is not empty:
+ 
+    var space = ' ';
+    space.isEmpty; // false
+   
+### Discussion 
+
+Don't use `if (string)` to test the emptiness of a string. In Dart, all
+objects except the boolean true evaluate to false. `if(string)` will always
+be false.
+
+
+## Removing leading and trailing whitespace
+
+### Problem
+
+You want to remove leading and trailing whitespace from a string.
+
+### Solution
+
+Use `string.trim()`:
+
+    var space = '\n\r\f\t\v';  // We'll use a variety of space characters.
+    var string = '$space X $space';
+    var newString = string.trim(); // 'X'
+
+The String class has no methods to remove only leading or only trailing
+whitespace. But you can always use regExps.
+
+Remove only leading whitespace:
+
+    var newString = string.replaceFirst(new RegExp(r'^\s+'), ''); //  'X $space'
+   
+Remove only trailing whitespace:
+
+    var newString = string.replaceFirst(new RegExp(r'\s+$'), ''); // '$space X'
+
+
+## Calculating the length of a string
+
+### Problem
+
+You want to get the length of a string, but are not sure how to 
+correctly calculate the length when working with Unicode.
+
+### Solution
+
+Use string.length to get the number of UTF-16 code units in a string:
+        
+    'I love music'.length; // 12
+    'I love music'.runes.length; // 12
+        
+### Discussion
+
+For characters that fit into 16 bits, the code unit length is the same as the
+rune length:
+
+    var hearts = '\u2661'; // ♡
+    hearts.length; // 1
+    hearts.runes.length; // 1
+  
+If the string contains any characters outside the Basic Multilingual
+Plane (BMP), the rune length will be less than the code unit length:
+  
+    var clef = '\u{1F3BC}'; // 🎼  
+    clef.length; // 2
+    clef.runes.length; // 1
+    
+    var music = 'I $hearts $clef'; // 'I ♡ 🎼 '
+    music.length; // 6
+    music.runes.length // 5
+
+Use `length` if you want to number of code units; use `runes.length` if you 
+want the number of runes.

[floitsch, 2013/03/09 00:01:41]

You could add, that Twitter uses runes for the length limit.

+
+
+## Subscripting a string
+
+### Problem
+
+You want to be able to access a character in a string at a particular index.
+
+### Solution
+
+Subscript runes:
+
+    var teacup = '\u{1F375}'; // 🍵  
+    teacup.runes.toList()[0]; // 127861

[floitsch, 2013/03/09 00:01:41]

If you want to access it only once, you can also use 'elementAt()'
teacup.runes.first is also valid here.

Furthermore note that runes has a special iterator that allows to move forward
and backward.

+    
+The number 127861 represents the code point for teacup, '\u{1F375}' (🍵 ). 
+
+### Discussion
+
+Subscripting a string directly can be problematic. This is because the default 
+`[]` implementation subscripts along code units.  This means that
+for non-BMP characters, subscripting yields invalid UTF-16 characters: 
+
+    'Dart'[0]; // 'D'
+
+    var hearts = '\u2661'; // ♡
+    hearts[0]; '\u2661' // ♡
+    
+    teacup[0]; // 55356, Invalid string, half of a surrogate pair.
+    teacup.codeUnits.toList()[0]; // The same.
+    
+
+## Processing a string one character at a time
+
+### Problem
+
+You want to do something with each individual character in a string.
+
+### Solution
+
+To access an individual character, map the string runes:
+
+    var charList = "Dart".runes.map((rune) => '*${new String.fromCharCode(rune)}*').toList();
+          // ['*D*', '*a*', '*r*', '*t*']
+      
+    var runeList = happy.runes.map((rune) => [rune, new String.fromCharCode(rune)]).toList(), 
+          // [[73, 'I'], [32, ' '], [97, 'a'], [109, 'm'], [32, ' '], [9786, '☺']]
+      
+If you are sure that the string is in the Basic Multilingual Plane (BMP), you
+can use string.split(''):
+
+    'Dart'.split(''); // ['D', 'a', 'r', 't']
+    smileyFace.split('').length; // 1
+        
+Since `split('')` splits at the UTF-16 code unit boundaries,
+invoking it on a non-BMP character yields the string's surrogate pair:
+
+    var clef = '\u{1F3BC}'; // 🎼 , not in BMP.
+    clef.split('').length; // 2
+        
+The surrogate pair members are not valid UTF-16 strings.
+
+
+## Splitting a string into substrings
+
+### Problem
+
+You want to split a string into substrings.
+
+### Solution
+
+Use the `split()` method with a string or a regExp as an argument. 
+
+    var smileyFace = '\u263A';
+    var happy = 'I am $smileyFace';
+    happy.split(' '); // ['I', 'am', '☺']
+    
+Here is an example of using `split()` with a regExp:
+
+    var nums = '2/7 3 4/5 3~/5';
+    var numsRegExp = new RegExp(r'(\s|/|~/)');
+    nums.split(numsRegExp); // ['2', '7', '3', '4', '5', '3', '5']
+
+In the code above, the string `nums` contains various numbers, some of which
+are expressed as fractions or as int-divisions. A regExp is used to split the
+string to extract just the numbers.
+ 
+You can perform operations on the matched and unmatched portions of a string
+when using `split()` with a regExp:
+
+    'Eats SHOOTS leaves'.splitMapJoin((new RegExp(r'SHOOTS')),
+      onMatch: (m) => '*${m.group(0).toLowerCase()}*',
+      onNonMatch: (n) => n.toUpperCase()); // 'EATS *shoots* LEAVES'
+      
+The regExp matches the middle word ('SHOOTS'). A pair of callbacks are
+registered to transform the matched and unmatched substrings before the
+substrings are joined together again.
+
+
+## Changing string case
+
+### Problem
+
+You want to change the case of strings.
+
+### Solution
+
+Use `string.toUpperCase()` and `string.toLowerCase()` to convert a string to 
+lower-case or upper-case, respectively:
+
+    var theOneILove = 'I love Lucy';
+    theOneILove.toUpperCase(); // 'I LOVE LUCY!'
+    theOneILove.toLowerCase(); // 'i love lucy!'
+ 
+### Discussion
+ 
+Case changes affect the characters of bi-cameral scripts like Greek and French:
+    var zeus = '\u0394\u03af\u03b1\u03c2'; // 'Δίας' (Zeus in modern Greek)
+    zeus.toUpperCase(); // 'ΔΊΑΣ'
+    
+    var resume = '\u0052\u00e9\u0073\u0075\u006d\u00e9'; // 'Résumé'
+    resume.toLowerCase(); // 'résumé'
+    
+They do not affect the characters of uni-cameral scripts like Devanagari (used for
+writing many of the languages of India):
+
+    var chickenKebab = '\u091a\u093f\u0915\u0928 \u0915\u092c\u093e\u092c'; 
+    // 'चिकन कबाब'  (in Devanagari)
+    chickenKebab.toLowerCase();  // 'चिकन कबाब'
+    chickenKebab.toUpperCase();  // 'चिकन कबाब'
+    
+If a character's case does not change when using `toUpperCase()` and
+`toLowerCase()`, it is most likely because the character only has one
+form.
+
+## Determining whether a string contains another string
+
+### Problem
+
+You want to find out if a string is the substring of another string.
+
+### Solution
+
+Use `string.contains()`:
+
+    var fact = 'Dart strings are immutable';
+    string.contains('immutable'); // True.
+
+You can indicate a startIndex as a second argument:
+
+    string.contains('Dart', 2); // False
+    
+### Discussion
+
+The String library provides a couple of shortcuts for testing whether a string
+is a substring of another:
+
+    string.startsWith('Dart'); // True.
+    string.endsWith('e'); // True.
+        
+You can also use `string.indexOf()`, which returns -1 if the substring is
+not found within a string, and its matching index, if it is:
+
+    string.indexOf('art') != -1; // True, `art` is found in `Dart`
+
+You can also use a regExp and `hasMatch()`:
+
+    new RegExp(r'ar[et]').hasMatch(string); //  True, 'art' and 'are' match.
+    
+
+## Finding matches of a regExp pattern in a string
+
+### Problem
+
+You want to use regExp to match a pattern in a string, and 
+want to be able to access the matches.
+
+### Solution
+
+Construct a regular expression using the RegExp class and find matches using
+the `allMatches()` method:
+
+    var neverEatingThat = 'Not with a fox, not in a box';
+    var regExp = new RegExp(r'[fb]ox');
+    List matches = regExp.allMatches(neverEatingThat);
+    matches.map((match) => match.group(0)).toList(); // ['fox', 'box']
+    
+### Discussion
+     
+You can query the object returned by `allMatches()` to find out the number of
+matches:
+ 
+    matches.length; // 2
+
+To find the first match, use `firstMatch()`:
+        
+    regExp.firstMatch(neverEatingThat).group(0); // 'fox'
+        
+To directly access the matched string, use `stringMatch()`:
+
+    regExp.stringMatch(neverEatingThat); // 'fox'
+    regExp.stringMatch('I like bagels and lox'); // null
+
+
+## Substituting strings based on regExp matches
+
+### Problem
+
+You want to match substrings within a string and make substitutions based on
+the matches.
+
+### Solution
+
+Construct a regular expression using the RegExp class and make replacements
+using `replaceAll()` method:
+
+    'resume'.replaceAll(new RegExp(r'e'), '\u00E9'); // 'résumé'
+
+If you want to replace just the first match, use 'replaceFirst()`:
+
+    '0.0001'.replaceFirst(new RegExp(r'0+'), ''); // '.0001'
+        
+The RegExp matches for one or more 0's and replaces them with an empty string.
+
+You can use `replaceAllMatched()` and register a function to modify the
+matches:
+
+    var heart = '\u2661'; // '♡'
+    var string = 'I like Ike but I $heart Lucy';
+    var regExp = new RegExp(r'[A-Z]\w+');
+    string.replaceAllMapped(regExp, (match) => match.group(0).toUpperCase()); 
+    // 'I like IKE but I ♡ LUCY'