View Category
Strings
Printing

Output a string to the console

Write the string "Hello World!" to STDOUT
python
print "Hello World!"
clojure
(println "Hello World!")
erlang
io:format("Hello, World!~n").
java
System.out.println("Hello World!");
System.out.printf("Hello World!\n");

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?
python
# I'm not really sure this is what the site is for,
# but the one unsolved problem for python was grating me.
# Anyway, I think this is what you're looking for.

from urllib import urlencode

query_dict = {'mode': 'view',
'fname': 'Ron & Jean',
'lname': 'Smith'}

print urlencode(query_dict.items())

# Which will be 'lname=Smith&mode=view&fname=Ron+%26+Jean'.
clojure
(->> {"mode" "view"
"fname" "Ron & Jean"
"lname" "Smith"}
(map #(str (URLEncoder/encode (first %) "UTF-8")
"="
(URLEncoder/encode (second %) "UTF-8")))
(reduce (fn [url e] (str url "&" e))
"http://myserver.com/custinfo/edit.php"))
erlang
% encode ampersand in your string using %XX where XX is hex code for ampersand
% optionally encode spaces for completeness sake to keep URL solid
URL = "http://myserver.com/custinfo/edit.php?mode=view&fname=Ron%20%26%20Jean&lname=Smith",
{_, Query} = string:tokens(URL, "?"),
KeyValuePairs = string:tokens(Query, "&"),...
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());

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.
python
def wrap(string, length):

while len(string):
print("> " + string[0:length - 1])
string = string[length - 1:].strip()


wrap("The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. " * 10, 78)
clojure
(defn string-wrap [s]
(if (= 0 (count s))
nil
(lazy-seq (cons (apply str (take 78 s))
(string-wrap (drop 78 s))))))

(let [s (apply str (repeat 10 "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. "))]
(doseq [line (string-wrap s)]
(println "> " line)))
erlang
wrapper(String, Times, Length) ->
StrList = lists:reverse(formatter(string:copies(String, Times), Length, [])),
lists:foreach(fun(Str) -> io:format("~p~n", [Str]) end, StrList).

formatter([], _Length, Acc) -> Acc;
formatter(String, Length, Acc) when length(String) > Length - 1->
{Head, Tail} = lists:split(Length - 1, String),
formatter(string:strip(Tail), Length, [[$>, $ | Head] | Acc]);
formatter(String, Length, Acc) ->
formatter([], Length, [[$>, $ | String] | Acc]).
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);
}

}
}
Declaration

Define a string containing special characters

Define the literal string "\#{'}${"}/"
python
# yes, Python has way too many forms of string literals :)
print "\\#{'}${\"}/"
print "\\#{'}${"'"'"}/"
print r"""\#{'}${"}/"""
print '\\#{\'}${"}/'
print '\\#{'"'"'}${"}/'
print r'''\#{'}${"}/'''
clojure
(def special "\\#{'}${\"}/")
erlang
Special = "\\#{'}\${\"}/",
java
String special = "\\#{'}${\"}/";

Define a multiline string

Define the string:
"This
Is
A
Multiline
String"
python
text = """This
Is
A
Multiline
String"""
# with proper indentation
text = (
"This\n"
"Is\n"
"A\n"
"Multiline\n"
"String"
)
clojure
(def multiline "This\nIs\nA\nMultiline\nString")
erlang
Text = "This\nIs\nA\nMultiline\nString",
java
String text = "This\nIs\nA\nMultiline\nString";
String text =
"This\n" +
"Is\n" +
"A\n" +
"Multiline\n" +
"String"

Define a string containing variables and expressions

Given variables a=3 and b=4 output "3+4=7"
python
class EvalDict(dict):
def __getitem__(s, k):
return eval(k, s)

a=3; b=4
"%(a)d+%(b)d=%(a+b)d" % EvalDict(locals())
a=3; b=4
"%d+%d=%d" % (a, b, a+b)
clojure
(format "%d + %d = %d" a b (+ a b))
erlang
A = 3, B = 4,
io:format("~B+~B=~B~n", [A, B, (A+B)]).
java
System.out.println(a + "+" + b + "=" + (a+b));
System.out.printf("%d+%d=%d\n", a, b, a + b);
Manipulation

Reverse the characters in a string

Given the string "reverse me", produce the string "em esrever"
python
"reverse me"[::-1]
clojure
(require '[clojure.contrib.str-utils2 :as str])
(str/reverse "reverse me")
(apply str (reverse "reverse me"))
erlang
Reversed = lists:reverse("reverse me"),
Reversed = revchars("reverse me"),
java
String reverse = new StringBuffer("reverse me").reverse().toString();
String reverse = new StringBuilder("reverse me").reverse().toString();
String reverse = StringUtils.reverse("reverse me");

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"
python
' '.join(reversed("This is a end, my only friend!".split()))
clojure
(require '[clojure.contrib.str-utils2 :as str])
(str/join " " (reverse (str/split "this is the end, my only friend!" #" ")))
(apply str (interpose " " (reverse (re-seq #"[^\s]+" "This is the end, my only friend!"))))
erlang
Reversed = string:join(lists:reverse(string:tokens("This is the end, my only friend!", " ")), " "),
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!", ' ');

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.
python
import textwrap
print textwrap.fill("The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. " * 10,
72, initial_indent="> ", subsequent_indent="> ")
clojure
(doseq [line (re-seq #".{0,70} "
(apply str
(repeat 10 "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. ")))]
(println ">" line))
erlang
TextWrap = textwrap(string:copies(Input, 10), 73 - length(Prefix)),
lists:foreach(fun (Line) -> io:format("~s~n", [string:concat(Prefix, Line)]) end, string:tokens(TextWrap, "\n")).
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);

Remove leading and trailing whitespace from a string

Given the string "  hello    " return the string "hello".
python
assert 'hello' == ' hello '.strip()
clojure
(use 'clojure.contrib.str-utils2)
(trim " hello ")
(clojure.string/trim " hello ")
(.trim " hello ")
erlang
Trimmed = string:strip(S),
java
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
python
# rot13, readable
rot13_tbl = string.maketrans("ABCDEFGHIJKLMabcdefghijklmNOPQRSTUVWXYZnopqrstuvwxyz", "NOPQRSTUVWXYZnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMabcdefghijklm")
string.translate("Hello World #123", rot13_tbl)


#
# "a bad programmer can write bad code in any language"
#

# rot13, "clever"
string.translate("Hello World #123", string.maketrans(string.lowercase+string.uppercase, string.lowercase[13:]+string.lowercase[:13]+string.uppercase[13:]+string.uppercase[:13]))

# rot47, very "clever"
''.join([ord(c) in range(33,127) and chr(((ord(c)-33+47)%(127-33))+33) or c for c in "Hello World #123"])

"Hello World #123".encode('rot13')
clojure
(use 'clojure.contrib.cond)

(defn rot13 [s]
(reduce str
(map #(char (let [c (bit-and (int (char %)) 0xDF)]
(+ % (cond-let [i]
(and (>= c (int \A)) (<= c (int \M))) 13
(and (>= c (int \N)) (<= c (int \Z))) -13
true 0))))
(map #(int (char %)) s))))

(defn rot47 [s]
(reduce str
(map #(char (+ % (cond-let [i]
(and (>= % (int \!)) (<= % (int \O))) 47
(and (>= % (int \P)) (<= % (int \~))) -47
true 0)))
(map #(int (char %)) s))))
erlang
rot13(Str) ->
lists:map(fun(A) ->
if
A >= $A, A =< $Z -> ((A - $A + 13) rem 26) + $A;
A >= $a, A =< $z -> ((A - $a + 13) rem 26) + $a;
true -> A
end
end, Str).

rot47(Str) ->
lists:map(fun(A) ->
if
A >= $!, A =< $~ ->
((A - $! + 47) rem 94) + $!;
true -> A
end
end, Str).
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 ) )) ;
Case

Make a string uppercase

Transform "Space Monkey" into "SPACE MONKEY"
python
"Space Monkey".upper()
clojure
(.toUpperCase "Space Monkey")
erlang
io:format("~s~n", [string:to_upper("Space Monkey")]).
java
String upper = text.toUpperCase();

Make a string lowercase

Transform "Caps ARE overRated" into "caps are overrated"
python
"Caps ARE overRated".lower()
clojure
(.toLowerCase "Caps ARE overRated")
erlang
io:format("~s~n", [string:to_lower("Caps ARE overRated")]).
java
"Caps ARE overRated".toLowerCase();

Capitalise the first letter of each word

Transform "man OF stEEL" into "Man Of Steel"
python
from string import capwords
capwords("man OF stEEL")
' '.join(s.capitalize() for s in "man OF stEEL".split())
"man OF stEEL".title()
clojure
(use 'clojure.contrib.str-utils2)
(join " " (map capitalize (split "man OF stEEL" #" ")))
erlang
Caps = string:join(lists:map(fun(S) -> to_caps(S) end, string:tokens("man OF stEEL", " ")), " "),
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");