The String package consists of the single class String . This class provides ways to assign, concatenate, and compare character strings. This class also provides methods for substring creation and for vector access to a character string.

String class

Provides the capabilities for manipulating sequences of characters.

Header

#include <string.hxx>

Alternative Header

None.

Declaration

class String { friend ostream &operator<<(ostream &, const String &); friend istream &operator>>(istream &, String &); friend int operator==(const String &, const String &); friend int operator==(const String &, const char *); friend int operator==(const char *, const String &); friend int operator!=(const String &, const String &); friend int operator!=(const String &, const char *); friend int operator!=(const char *, const String &); friend int operator<(const String &, const String &); friend int operator<(const String &, const char *); friend int operator<(const char *, const String &); friend int operator>(const String &, const String &); friend int operator>(const String &, const char *); friend int operator>(const char *, const String &); friend int operator<=(const String &, const String &); friend int operator<=(const String &, const char *); friend int operator<=(const char *, const String &); friend int operator>=(const String &, const String &); friend int operator>=(const String &, const char *); friend int operator>=(const char *, const String &); friend String operator+(const String &, const String &); friend String operator+(const String &, const char *); friend String operator+(const char *, const String &); public: String(); String(const String &); String(const char *); String(const char &); ~String(); String &operator=(const String &); String &operator=(const char *); operator char * () const; operator const char * () const; String &operator+=(const String &); String &operator+=(const char *); String operator()(int, int) const; unsigned int length() const; String upper() const; String lower() const; int match(const String &) const; int index(const String &) const; char operator[](int) const; char &operator[](int); };

Description

This class provides the means for manipulating sequences of characters, each of which is of the type char . For some applications, the services provided are like those provided by the traditional C string library ( strcpy , strcmp , and so forth), but are more efficient and convenient in the context of C++. Overloaded operators provide ways to assign, concatenate, and compare strings. New operators provide simple notations for substring creation and vector access into the string.

All comparisons are lexicographic, with the ordering dependent on the character set in which the string is encoded.

An index value of 0 indicates the first character in a string object.

Note The char *() operator, which converts String to a pointer to char , is not supported on OpenVMS I64 systems. The const char *() operator can be used instead.

Constructors and Destructors

String()

Constructs a String object initialized to an empty string.

String(const char *s)

Constructs a String object and initializes it to the null-terminated sequence of characters.

String(const char &c)

Constructs a String object with a reference to a char datum to initialize the string.

String(const String &x)

Constructs a String object with a reference to another String to initialize the first String .

~String()

Deletes a String object; no user action is required.

Overloaded Operators

String operator + (const char *s, const String &x)

Concatenates a null-terminated sequence of characters to a String object.

String operator + (const String &x, const char *s)

Concatenates a String object with a null-terminated sequence of characters.

String operator + (const String &x, const String &y)

Concatenates a String object with another String object.

String &operator = (const char *s)

Assigns a String object to a null-terminated sequence of characters.

String &operator = (const String &x)

Assigns a String object to another String object.

int operator < (const char *s, const String &x)

Tests if a null-terminated sequence of characters is less than a String object; if so, it returns 1. Otherwise, it returns 0.

int operator < (const String &x, const char *s)

Tests if a String object is less than a null-terminated sequence of characters; if so, it returns 1. Otherwise, it returns 0.

int operator < (const String &x, const String &y)

Compares two String objects to determine if the first is less than the second; if so, it returns 1. Otherwise, it returns 0.

int operator > (const char *s, const String &x)

Tests if a null-terminated sequence of characters is greater than a String object; if so, it returns 1. Otherwise, it returns 0.

int operator > (const String &x, const char *s)

Tests if a String object is greater than a null-terminated sequence of characters; if so, it returns 1. Otherwise, it returns 0.

int operator > (const String &x, const String &y)

Compares two String objects to determine if the first is greater than the second; if so, it returns 1. Otherwise, it returns 0.

String &operator += (const char *st2)

Concatenates a null-terminated sequence of characters to a String object.

String &operator += (const String &st2)

Concatenates a String object to another String object.

ostream &operator << (ostream &s, const String &x)

Inserts the sequence of characters represented by x into the stream s.

istream &operator >> (istream &s, String &x)

Extracts characters from s using the istream extraction operator, then stores characters in x, replacing the current contents of x and dynamically allocating x as necessary.

int operator == (const char *s, const String &x)

Tests if a null-terminated sequence of characters is equal to a String object; if so, it returns 1. Otherwise, it returns 0.

int operator == (const String &x, const char *s)

Tests if a String object is equal to a null-terminated sequence of characters; if so, it returns 1. Otherwise, it returns 0.

int operator == (const String &x, const String &y)

Compares two String objects to determine equality. If one is equal to the other, it returns 1; otherwise, it returns 0.

int operator != (const char *s, const String &x)

Tests if a null-terminated sequence of characters is not equal to a String object; if so, it returns 1. Otherwise, it returns 0.

int operator != (const String &x, const char *s)

Tests if a String object is not equal to a null-terminated sequence of characters; if so, it returns 1. Otherwise, it returns 0.

int operator != (const String &x, const String &y)

Compares two String objects to determine inequality. If they are not equal, the function returns 1; otherwise, it returns 0.

int operator <= (const char *s, const String &x)

Tests if a null-terminated sequence of characters is less than or equal to a String object; if so, it returns 1. Otherwise, it returns 0.

int operator <= (const String &x, const char *s)

Tests if a String object is less than or equal to a null-terminated sequence of characters; if so, it returns 1. Otherwise, it returns 0.

int operator <= (const String &x, const String &y)

Compares two String objects to determine if the first is less than or equal to the second; if so, it returns 1. Otherwise, it returns 0.

int operator >= (const char *s, const String &x)

Tests if a null-terminated sequence of characters is equal to or greater than a String object; if so, it returns 1. Otherwise, it returns 0.

int operator >= (const String &x, const char *s)

Tests if a String object is equal to or greater than a null-terminated sequence of characters; if so, it returns 1. Otherwise, it returns 0.

int operator >= (const String &x, const String &y)

Compares two String objects to determine if the first is equal to or greater than the second; if so, it returns 1. Otherwise, it returns 0.

String operator () (int index, int count) const

Creates a new String object defined as a substring of the current String , with index as the starting character and count as the length of the substring.

char operator [] (int position) const

Returns the character at the requested position within the string. If the position is past the end of the string, it returns 0. If the position is negative, the results are undefined.

char &operator [] (int position)

Returns a reference to the character at the requested position within the string. This reference is potentially invalid after any subsequent call to a non-const member function for the object. If the position is past the end of the string or if the position is negative, the results are undefined.

Other Member Functions

int index(const String &x) const

Returns the index value of the first position where an element of a String object coincides with the value of x.

unsigned int length() const

Returns the length (number of characters) in a String object.

String lower() const

Returns a new String object constructed from a String except that every character is lowercase regardless of its original case.

int match(const String &x) const

Compares two strings and returns the first index position at which they differ; it returns --1 if the strings match completely. The String argument can be a character pointer.

String upper() const

Returns a new String constructed from a String except that every character is uppercase regardless of its original case.

Examples

String x ("The Times of John Doe"); 
char *y = "Pink Triangles"; 
 
if (x != y) cout << "We have two different strings.\n"; 
 
x = y; 
 
cout << x; 
 
      

The first line of this example provides a character string to the constructor for initialization. The overloaded operators (!=, <<, and =) accept either two String objects or a String and a null-terminate sequence of characters. The last line prints out the following character string:

Pink Triangles

String x ("The Times of John Doe"); 
 
String a (x(18,3));    // Substring is "Doe" 
String b (x);          // b contains all of x 
 
      

In this example, the creation of object a provides a substring of object x to the constructor for object a . The substring begins at position 18 and has a length of 3 characters. The next line creates the object b and initializes it to contain the same value as x .

String x ("World"); 
String y; 
 
y = "Hello"; 
y += ", " + x + ".\n";      
 
cout << y;  
 
      

This example shows string concatenation. The last line prints out the following message:

Hello, World.