string

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The string library provides generic functions to manipulate strings, such as to extract substrings or match patterns. You can access the string library by the global string library.

See String pattern reference for details on using string.match(), string.gmatch(), and string.gsub() to find (and replace) substrings.

Summary

Functions

byte(s : string,i : number,j : number):number
Returns the internal numerical codes of the characters s[i], s[i+1], ..., s[j]. The default value for i is 1; the default value for j is i. These indices are corrected following the same rules of function string.sub.
char(... : number):string
Receives zero or more integers and returns a string with length equal to the number of arguments, in which each character has the internal numerical code equal to its corresponding argument.
find(s : string,pattern : string,init : number,plain : boolean):number,number
Looks for the first match of pattern in the string s and returns the indices of s where the occurrence starts and ends.
format(formatstring : string,... : string):string
Returns a formatted version of its variable number of arguments following the description given in its first argument, which must be a string.
gmatch(s : string,pattern : string):function
Returns an iterator function that returns the next captures from pattern over the string s each time it's called.
gsub(s : string,pattern : string,replacement : Variant,replacements : number):string,number
Returns a copy of s in which all or the first n occurrences of the pattern are replaced with the given replacement. The second value returned is the total number of substitutions made.
len(s : string):number
Returns the length of a string.
lower(s : string):string
Returns a copy of a string with all uppercase letters changed to lowercase.
match(s : string,pattern : string,init : number):string
Looks for the first match of pattern in the string s. If a match is found, it is returned; otherwise, it returns nil. A third, optional numerical argument, init, specifies where to start the search.
pack(format : string,... : Variant):string
Returns a binary string containing the provided arguments.
packsize(format : string):number
Returns the size in bytes of any string packed with a given description.
rep(s : string,n : number):string
Returns a string that is the concatenation of n copies of the string s.
reverse(s : string):string
Returns a string that is the string s reversed.
split(s : string,separator : string):table
Splits a string into parts based on the defined separator character(s), returning a table of ordered results.
sub(s : string,i : number,j : number):string
Returns the substring of s that starts at i and continues until and including j. i and j can be negative. i defaults to 1 and j defaults to -1.
unpack(format : string,data : string,readStart : string):Tuple
Extracts the values packed in the provided binary string.
upper(s : string):string
Returns a copy of a string with all lowercase letters changed to uppercase.