View Category
Strings
Printing

Output a string to the console

Write the string "Hello World!" to STDOUT
perl
print "Hello World!\n"
java
System.out.println("Hello World!");
System.out.printf("Hello World!\n");
cpp
std::cout << "Hello World" << std::endl;
std::printf("Hello World\n");
Console::WriteLine(L"Hello World");

Retrieve a string containing ampersands from the variables in a url

My PHP script first does a query to obtain customer info for a form. The form has first name and last name fields among others. The customer has put entries such as "Ron & Jean" in the first name field in the database. Then the edit form script is called with variables such as

"http://myserver.com/custinfo/edit.php?mode=view&fname=Ron & Jean&lname=Smith".

The script variable for first name $_REQUEST['firstname'] never gets beyond the "Ron" value because of the ampersand in the data.

I have tried various functions like urldecode but all to no avail. I even tried encoding the url before the view screen is painted so that the url looks like "http://myserver/custinfo/edit.php?mode=view&fname="Ronxxnbsp;xxamp;xxnbsp;Jean"&lname=SMITH". (sorry I had to add the xx to replace the ampersand or it didn't display meaningful url contents the browser sees.)

Of course this fails for the same reasons. What is a better approach?
perl
print "http://myserver.com/custinfo/edit.php"
."?fname=".urlenc('Ron & Jean')
."&lname=".urlenc('Smith');
sub urlenc{my($s)=@_;$s=~s/([^A-Za-z0-9])/sprintf("%%%02X",ord($1))/seg;$s}
java
Map<String, String> params = new HashMap<String, String>();
params.put("mode", "view");
params.put("fname", "Ron & Jean");
params.put("lname", "Smith");

StringBuilder buffer = new StringBuilder();
for (Map.Entry<String, String> entry : params.entrySet()) {
buffer.append(URLEncoder.encode(entry.getKey(), "UTF-8"))
.append("=")
.append(URLEncoder.encode(entry.getValue(), "UTF-8"));
}
System.out.println(buffer.toString());
cpp
QUrl url("http://myserver.com/custinfo/edit.php");
url.addQueryItem("mode", "view");
url.addQueryItem("fname", "Ron & Jean");
url.addQueryItem("lname", "Smith");
QByteArray encodedUrl = url.toEncoded();

string-wrap

Wrap the string "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. " repeated ten times to a max width of 78 chars, starting each line with "> "

Expected output:
> The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. The quick brown fox jumps over t
> he lazy dog. The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. The quick brown fox
> jumps over the lazy dog. The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. The qui
> ck brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy
> dog. The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. The quick brown fox jumps o
> ver the lazy dog. The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
java
public class SolutionXX {
public static void main(String[] args) {
StringBuilder builder = new StringBuilder();
String words = "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. ";

for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++)
{
builder.append(words);
}

String toWrap = builder.toString();
int width = 76;
while (toWrap!=null && toWrap.length()>0)
{
String first = toWrap.length() > width ? toWrap.substring(0, width+1) : toWrap;
toWrap = (!toWrap.equals(first)) ? toWrap.substring(width + 1).trim() : null;
System.out.println("> " + first);
}

}
}
cpp
#include <iostream>
#include <sstream>
#include <string>

using namespace std;

void rep(ostream &os, const string& str, int times)
{
while (times--)
os << str;
}

void wrap(ostream &os, const string& str, const string &prefix, int width)
{
for (int offset = 0; offset < str.size(); offset += width)
os << prefix << str.substr(offset, width) << endl;
}

int main()
{
stringstream input;

rep(input, "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. ", 10);
wrap(cout, input.str(), "> ", 78);
}
Declaration

Define a string containing special characters

Define the literal string "\#{'}${"}/"
perl
$special = '\#{\'}${"}/';
$special = q(\#{'}${"}/);
java
String special = "\\#{'}${\"}/";
cpp
std::string special = "\\#{'}${\"}/";
String^ special = L"\\#{'}${\"}/";

Define a multiline string

Define the string:
"This
Is
A
Multiline
String"
perl
$text = 'This
Is
A
Multiline
String';
$text = <<EOF;
This
Is
A
Multiline
String
EOF
java
String text = "This\nIs\nA\nMultiline\nString";
String text =
"This\n" +
"Is\n" +
"A\n" +
"Multiline\n" +
"String"
cpp
std::string text =
"This\n"
"Is\n"
"A\n"
"Multiline\n"
"String";
String^ text = L"This\nIs\nA\nMultiline\nString";
std::string text = "This\nIs\nA\nMultiline\nString";

Define a string containing variables and expressions

Given variables a=3 and b=4 output "3+4=7"
perl
print "$a+$b=${\($a+$b)}\n";
sprintf("%d+%d=%d", $a, $b, $a + $b);
print $a, '+', $b, '=', $a + $b;
java
System.out.println(a + "+" + b + "=" + (a+b));
System.out.printf("%d+%d=%d\n", a, b, a + b);
cpp
Console::WriteLine(L"{0}+{1}={2}", a, b, a+b);
std::printf("%d+%d=%d\n", a, b, a+b);
std::cout << boost::format("%|1|+%|1|=%|1|") % a % b % (a+b) << std::endl;
Manipulation

Reverse the characters in a string

Given the string "reverse me", produce the string "em esrever"
perl
$_ = reverse "reverse me"; print
java
String reverse = new StringBuffer("reverse me").reverse().toString();
String reverse = new StringBuilder("reverse me").reverse().toString();
String reverse = StringUtils.reverse("reverse me");
cpp
String^ s = "reverse me";
array<Char>^ sa = s->ToCharArray();
Array::Reverse(sa);
String^ sr = gcnew String(sa);
std::string s = "reverse me";
std::reverse(s.begin(), s.end());
std::string s = "reverse me";
std::string sr(s.rbegin(), s.rend());
std::string s = "reverse me";
std::swap_ranges(s.begin(), (s.begin() + s.size() / 2), s.rbegin());

Reverse the words in a string

Given the string "This is a end, my only friend!", produce the string "friend! only my end, the is This"
perl
$reversed = join ' ', reverse split / /, $text;
java
List list = new ArrayList();
StringTokenizer st = new StringTokenizer(text, " ");
while(st.hasMoreTokens()) {
list.add(0, st.nextToken());
}
StringBuffer sb = new StringBuffer();
for (Iterator iterator = list.iterator(); iterator.hasNext();) {
String word = (String) iterator.next();
sb.append(word);
if (iterator.hasNext()) {
sb.append(" ");
}
}
String reversed = sb.toString();
List<String> ls = Arrays.asList("This is the end, my only friend!".split("\\s"));
Collections.reverse(ls);
StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder(32); for (String s : ls) sb.append(" ").append(s);
String reversed = sb.toString().trim();
String reversed = StringUtils.reverseDelimited("This is the end, my only friend!", ' ');
cpp
array<Char>^ sep = {L' '};
array<String^>^ words =
String(L"This is the end, my only friend!").Split(sep, StringSplitOptions::RemoveEmptyEntries);

Array::Reverse(words); String^ newwords = String::Join(L" ", words);
std::string words = "This is the end, my only friend!"; std::vector<std::string> swv;

boost::split(swv, words, boost::is_any_of(" ")); std::reverse(swv.begin(), swv.end());
std::string newwords = (std::for_each(swv.begin(), swv.end(), StringTAndJ())).value();

Text wrapping

Wrap the string "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. " repeated ten times to a max width of 78 chars, starting each line with "> ", yielding this result:

> The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. The quick brown fox jumps
> over the lazy dog. The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. The
> quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. The quick brown fox jumps
> over the lazy dog. The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. The
> quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. The quick brown fox jumps
> over the lazy dog. The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. The
> quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
perl
use Text::Wrap;
$text = "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. ";
$Text::Wrap::columns = 73;
print wrap('> ', '> ', $text x 10);
$_ = "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. " x 10;
s/(.{0,70}) /> $1\n/g;
print;
java
String prefix = "> "; String input = "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.";

String[] lines = WordUtils.wrap(StringUtils.repeat(input, 10), 72 - prefix.length()).split("\n");

for (String line : lines) System.out.printf("%s%s\n", prefix, line);
cpp
String^ input = ::copies("The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. ", 10);
String^ sep = " "; String^ prefix = "> ";

String^ wrapped = textwrap(input, 74 - prefix->Length, sep, prefix);
Console::WriteLine("{0}", wrapped);
void rep(ostream &os, const string& str, int times)
{
while (times--)
os << str;
}

void wrap(ostream &os, const string& str, const string &prefix, int width)
{
int line_len = width;
bool first_word = true;

width -= prefix.size();
BOOST_FOREACH(string word, tokenizer<char_separator<char>>(str, char_separator<char>(" ")))
{
line_len += word.size();
if (line_len++ < width)
os << ' ';
else {
if (first_word)
first_word = false;
else
os << endl;
os << prefix;
line_len = word.size();
}
os << word;
}
os << endl;
}

int main()
{
stringstream input;

rep(input, "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. ", 10);
wrap(cout, input.str(), "> ", 72);
}

Remove leading and trailing whitespace from a string

Given the string "  hello    " return the string "hello".
perl
my $string = " hello ";
$string =~ s{
\A\s* # Any number of spaces at the start of the string
(.+?) # Remember any number of characters until we reach
\s*\z # any number of spaces at the end of the string
}{
$1 # Leave the characters we remembered
}x;
my $string = " hello ";
$string =~ s{\A\s*}{};
$string =~ s{\s*\z}{};

#Modification History:
# 2009-MAR-17: GGARIEPY: [creation] (geoff.gariepy@gmail.com)

$string = " hello ";
$string =~ s/^\s+|\s+$//g; # All the action happens in one regex!

# Regex Notes:
# ^ - anchors to the beginning of the string
# $ - anchors to the end of the string
# g - causes regex to match as many times as possible
# | - logical OR
java
String s = " hello "; String trimmed = s.trim();
cpp
String^ s = " hello "; String^ trimmed = s->Trim();

Simple substitution cipher

Take a string and return the ROT13 and ROT47 (Check Wikipedia) version of the string.
For example:
String is: Hello World #123
ROT13 returns: Uryyb Jbeyq #123
ROT47 returns: w6==@ (@C=5 R`ab
perl
sub rot13 {
my $str = shift;
$str =~ tr/A-Za-z/N-ZA-Mn-za-m/;
return $str;
}

sub rot47 {
my $str = shift;
$str =~ tr/!-~/P-~!-O/;
return $str;
}

my $string = 'Hello World #123';

print "$string\n";
print rot13($string)."\n";
print rot47($string)."\n";
java
CharArrayWriter rot13 = new CharArrayWriter() ;
for (char c : i ) {
char lc = Character.toLowerCase(c) ;
rot13.append( c += ( (lc >= 'a' && lc <= 'm') ? 13 : ( (lc >= 'n' && lc <= 'z') ? -13 : 0 ) )) ;
}

CharArrayWriter rot47 = new CharArrayWriter() ;
for (char c : i )
rot47.append( c += ( (c >= '!' && c <= 'O') ? 47 : ( (c >= 'P' && c <= '~') ? -47 : 0 ) )) ;
cpp
#include <algorithm>
#include <iostream>
#include <cctype>
using namespace std;

int rot13(int c) {
if (!isalpha(c)) {
return c;
} else {
char start = islower(c) ? 'a' : 'A';
return ((c - start) + 13) % 26 + start;
}
}

int rot47(int c) {
if (c < 33 || c > 126) {
return c;
} else {
return ((c - 33) + 47) % 94 + 33;
}
}

int main(int argc, char **argv) {
for (int i = 0; i < argc; ++i) {
string original = argv[i];

string rot13enc = original;
transform(original.begin(), original.end(), rot13enc.begin(), rot13);

string rot47enc = original;
transform(original.begin(), original.end(), rot47enc.begin(), rot47);

cout << "original: " << original << endl
<< "rot 13: " << rot13enc << endl
<< "rot 47: " << rot47enc << endl;
}
return 0;
}
Case

Make a string uppercase

Transform "Space Monkey" into "SPACE MONKEY"
perl
print uc "Space Monkey"
java
String upper = text.toUpperCase();
cpp
String(L"Space Monkey").ToUpper();
std::string s = "Space Monkey";
std::transform(s.begin(), s.end(), s.begin(), std::toupper);
std::string s = "Space Monkey";
boost::to_upper(s);

Make a string lowercase

Transform "Caps ARE overRated" into "caps are overrated"
perl
print lc "Caps ARE overRated"
java
"Caps ARE overRated".toLowerCase();
cpp
std::string s = "Caps ARE overRated";
std::string sl(boost::to_lower_copy(s));
String(L"Caps ARE overRated").ToLower();

Capitalise the first letter of each word

Transform "man OF stEEL" into "Man Of Steel"
perl
$text =~ s/(\w+)/\u\L$1/g;
java
String input = "man OF stEEL";
StringTokenizer tokenizer = new StringTokenizer(input);
StringBuffer sb = new StringBuffer();
while (tokenizer.hasMoreTokens()) {
String word = tokenizer.nextToken();
sb.append(word.substring(0, 1).toUpperCase());
sb.append(word.substring(1).toLowerCase());
sb.append(' ');
}
String text = sb.toString();
StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder("man OF stEEL"); String s = sb.toString();
int last = s.length() - 1;

for (int i = 0; i <= last; ++i)
if (Character.isSpaceChar(s.charAt(i)) && i < last) { ++i; sb.setCharAt(i, Character.toUpperCase(s.charAt(i))); }
else if (i == 0) sb.setCharAt(i, Character.toUpperCase(s.charAt(i)));
else sb.setCharAt(i, Character.toLowerCase(s.charAt(i)));
Matcher m = Pattern.compile("(\\w+)").matcher("man OF stEEL"); StringBuffer sb = new StringBuffer(32), rsb = new StringBuffer(8);

while (m.find())
{
rsb.replace(0, rsb.length(), m.group().toLowerCase()); rsb.setCharAt(0, Character.toUpperCase(rsb.charAt(0)));
m.appendReplacement(sb, rsb.toString());
}
m.appendTail(sb);
String text = WordUtils.capitalizeFully("man OF stEEL");
cpp
std::string words = "mAn OF stEEL";
std::transform(words.begin(), words.end(), words.begin(), ToCaps<>());
StringBuilder^ sb = gcnew StringBuilder(L"man OF stEEL");

for (int i = 0, isFirst = 1; i < sb->Length; ++i)
{
sb[i] = Char::IsWhiteSpace(sb[i]) ? (isFirst = 1, sb[i]) : isFirst ? (isFirst = 0, Char::ToUpper(sb[i])) : Char::ToLower(sb[i]);
}
std::string words = "mAn OF stEEL";
std::vector<std::string> swv;

boost::split(swv, words, boost::is_any_of(" "));
std::string newwords = (std::for_each(swv.begin(), swv.end(), StringTAndJ(WordToCaps))).value();