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String

A String object has an arbitrary sequence of bytes, typically representing text or binary data. A String object may be created using String::new or as literals.

String objects differ from Symbol objects in that Symbol objects are designed to be used as identifiers, instead of text or data.

You can create a String object explicitly with:

You can convert certain objects to Strings with:

Some String methods modify self. Typically, a method whose name ends with ! modifies self and returns self; often, a similarly named method (without the !) returns a new string.

In general, if both bang and non-bang versions of a method exist, the bang method mutates and the non-bang method does not. However, a method without a bang can also mutate, such as String#replace.

Substitution Methods

These methods perform substitutions:

Each of these methods takes:

The examples in this section mostly use the String#sub and String#gsub methods; the principles illustrated apply to all four substitution methods.

Argument pattern

Argument pattern is commonly a regular expression:

s = 'hello'
s.sub(/[aeiou]/, '*') # => "h*llo"
s.gsub(/[aeiou]/, '*') # => "h*ll*"
s.gsub(/[aeiou]/, '')  # => "hll"
s.sub(/ell/, 'al')     # => "halo"
s.gsub(/xyzzy/, '*')   # => "hello"
'THX1138'.gsub(/\d+/, '00') # => "THX00"

When pattern is a string, all its characters are treated as ordinary characters (not as Regexp special characters):

'THX1138'.gsub('\d+', '00') # => "THX1138"

String replacement

If replacement is a string, that string determines the replacing string that is substituted for the matched text.

Each of the examples above uses a simple string as the replacing string.

String replacement may contain back-references to the pattern’s captures:

See Regexp for details.

Note that within the string replacement, a character combination such as $& is treated as ordinary text, not as a special match variable. However, you may refer to some special match variables using these combinations:

See Regexp for details.

Note that \\ is interpreted as an escape, i.e., a single backslash.

Note also that a string literal consumes backslashes. See string literal for details about string literals.

A back-reference is typically preceded by an additional backslash. For example, if you want to write a back-reference \& in replacement with a double-quoted string literal, you need to write "..\\&..".

If you want to write a non-back-reference string \& in replacement, you need to first escape the backslash to prevent this method from interpreting it as a back-reference, and then you need to escape the backslashes again to prevent a string literal from consuming them: "..\\\\&..".

You may want to use the block form to avoid excessive backslashes.

Hash replacement

If the argument replacement is a hash, and pattern matches one of its keys, the replacing string is the value for that key:

h = {'foo' => 'bar', 'baz' => 'bat'}
'food'.sub('foo', h) # => "bard"

Note that a symbol key does not match:

h = {foo: 'bar', baz: 'bat'}
'food'.sub('foo', h) # => "d"

Block

In the block form, the current match string is passed to the block; the block’s return value becomes the replacing string:

s = '@'
'1234'.gsub(/\d/) { |match| s.succ! } # => "ABCD"

Special match variables such as $1, $2, $`, $&, and $' are set appropriately.

Whitespace in Strings

In the class String, whitespace is defined as a contiguous sequence of characters consisting of any mixture of the following:

Whitespace is relevant for the following methods:

String Slices

A slice of a string is a substring selected by certain criteria.

These instance methods utilize slicing:

Each of the above methods takes arguments that determine the slice to be copied or replaced.

The arguments have several forms. For a string string, the forms are:

string[index]

When a non-negative integer argument index is given, the slice is the 1-character substring found in self at character offset index:

'bar'[0]      # => "b"
'bar'[2]      # => "r"
'bar'[20]     # => nil
'тест'[2]     # => "с"
'こんにちは'[4] # => "は"

When a negative integer index is given, the slice begins at the offset given by counting backward from the end of self:

'bar'[-3]      # => "b"
'bar'[-1]      # => "r"
'bar'[-20]     # => nil

string[start, length]

When non-negative integer arguments start and length are given, the slice begins at character offset start, if it exists, and continues for length characters, if available:

'foo'[0, 2]      # => "fo"
'тест'[1, 2]     # => "ес"
'こんにちは'[2, 2] # => "にち"
# Zero length.
'foo'[2, 0]      # => ""
# Length not entirely available.
'foo'[1, 200]    # => "oo"
# Start out of range.
'foo'[4, 2]      # => nil

Special case: if start equals the length of self, the slice is a new empty string:

'foo'[3, 2]    # => ""
'foo'[3, 200]  # => ""

When a negative start and non-negative length are given, the slice begins by counting backward from the end of self, and continues for length characters, if available:

'foo'[-2, 2]     # => "oo"
'foo'[-2, 200]   # => "oo"
# Start out of range.
'foo'[-4, 2]     # => nil

When a negative length is given, there is no slice:

'foo'[1, -1]   # => nil
'foo'[-2, -1]  # => nil

string[range]

When a Range argument range is given, it creates a substring of string using the indices in range. The slice is then determined as above:

'foo'[0..1]     # => "fo"
'foo'[0, 2]     # => "fo"

'foo'[2...2]    # => ""
'foo'[2, 0]     # => ""

'foo'[1..200]   # => "oo"
'foo'[1, 200]   # => "oo"

'foo'[4..5]     # => nil
'foo'[4, 2]     # => nil

'foo'[-4..-3]   # => nil
'foo'[-4, 2]    # => nil

'foo'[3..4]     # => ""
'foo'[3, 2]     # => ""

'foo'[-2..-1]   # => "oo"
'foo'[-2, 2]    # => "oo"

'foo'[-2..197]  # => "oo"
'foo'[-2, 200]  # => "oo"

string[regexp, capture = 0]

When the Regexp argument regexp is given, and the capture argument is 0, the slice is the first matching substring found in self:

'foo'[/o/]                # => "o"
'foo'[/x/]                # => nil
s = 'hello there'
s[/[aeiou](.)\1/]        # => "ell"
s[/[aeiou](.)\1/, 0]     # => "ell"

If the argument capture is provided and not 0, it should be either a capture group index (integer) or a capture group name (String or Symbol); the slice is the specified capture (see Groups at Regexp and Captures):

s = 'hello there'
s[/[aeiou](.)\1/, 1] # => "l"
s[/(?<vowel>[aeiou])(?<non_vowel>[^aeiou])/, "non_vowel"] # => "l"
s[/(?<vowel>[aeiou])(?<non_vowel>[^aeiou])/, :vowel]      # => "e"

If an invalid capture group index is given, there is no slice. If an invalid capture group name is given, IndexError is raised.

string[substring]

When the single String argument substring is given, it returns the substring from self if found, otherwise nil:

'foo'['oo'] # => "oo"
'foo'['xx'] # => nil

What’s Here

First, what’s elsewhere. Class String:

Here, class String provides methods that are useful for:

Methods for Creating a String

Methods for a Frozen/Unfrozen String

Methods for Querying

Counts

Substrings

Encodings

Other

Methods for Comparing

Methods for Modifying a String

Each of these methods modifies self.

Insertion

Substitution

Casing

Encoding

Deletion

Methods for Converting to New String

Each of these methods returns a new String based on self, often just a modified copy of self.

Extension

Encoding

Substitution

Casing

Deletion

Duplication

Methods for Converting to Non-String

Each of these methods converts the contents of self to a non-String.

Characters, Bytes, and Clusters

Splitting

Matching

Numerics

Strings and Symbols

Methods for Iterating

Gem::SafeMarshal::Elements::String

No documentation available

StringIO#string

Returns underlying string:

StringIO.open('foo') do |strio|
  p strio.string
  strio.string = 'bar'
  p strio.string
end

Output:

"foo"
"bar"

Related: StringIO#string= (assigns the underlying string).

StringScanner#string

Returns the [stored string]:

scanner = StringScanner.new('foobar')
scanner.string # => "foobar"
scanner.concat('baz')
scanner.string # => "foobarbaz"

MatchData#string

Returns the target string if it was frozen; otherwise, returns a frozen copy of the target string:

m = /(.)(.)(\d+)(\d)/.match("THX1138.")
# => #<MatchData "HX1138" 1:"H" 2:"X" 3:"113" 4:"8">
m.string # => "THX1138."

Kernel#String

Returns a string converted from object.

Tries to convert object to a string using to_str first and to_s second:

String([0, 1, 2])        # => "[0, 1, 2]"
String(0..5)             # => "0..5"
String({foo: 0, bar: 1}) # => "{foo: 0, bar: 1}"

Raises TypeError if object cannot be converted to a string.

String#strip

Returns a copy of the receiver with leading and trailing whitespace removed; see Whitespace in Strings:

whitespace = "\x00\t\n\v\f\r "
s = whitespace + 'abc' + whitespace
s       # => "\u0000\t\n\v\f\r abc\u0000\t\n\v\f\r "
s.strip # => "abc"

Related: String#lstrip, String#rstrip.

String#lstrip

Returns a copy of self with leading whitespace removed; see Whitespace in Strings:

whitespace = "\x00\t\n\v\f\r "
s = whitespace + 'abc' + whitespace
s        # => "\u0000\t\n\v\f\r abc\u0000\t\n\v\f\r "
s.lstrip # => "abc\u0000\t\n\v\f\r "

Related: String#rstrip, String#strip.

String#rstrip

Returns a copy of the receiver with trailing whitespace removed; see Whitespace in Strings:

whitespace = "\x00\t\n\v\f\r "
s = whitespace + 'abc' + whitespace
s        # => "\u0000\t\n\v\f\r abc\u0000\t\n\v\f\r "
s.rstrip # => "\u0000\t\n\v\f\r abc"

Related: String#lstrip, String#strip.

String#strip!

Like String#strip, except that any modifications are made in self; returns self if any modification are made, nil otherwise.

Related: String#lstrip!, String#strip!.

String#lstrip!

Like String#lstrip, except that any modifications are made in self; returns self if any modification are made, nil otherwise.

Related: String#rstrip!, String#strip!.

String#rstrip!

Like String#rstrip, except that any modifications are made in self; returns self if any modification are made, nil otherwise.

Related: String#lstrip!, String#strip!.

String#rindex

Returns the Integer index of the last occurrence of the given substring, or nil if none found:

'foo'.rindex('f') # => 0
'foo'.rindex('o') # => 2
'foo'.rindex('oo') # => 1
'foo'.rindex('ooo') # => nil

Returns the Integer index of the last match for the given Regexp regexp, or nil if none found:

'foo'.rindex(/f/) # => 0
'foo'.rindex(/o/) # => 2
'foo'.rindex(/oo/) # => 1
'foo'.rindex(/ooo/) # => nil

The last match means starting at the possible last position, not the last of longest matches.

'foo'.rindex(/o+/) # => 2
$~ #=> #<MatchData "o">

To get the last longest match, needs to combine with negative lookbehind.

'foo'.rindex(/(?<!o)o+/) # => 1
$~ #=> #<MatchData "oo">

Or String#index with negative lookforward.

'foo'.index(/o+(?!.*o)/) # => 1
$~ #=> #<MatchData "oo">

Integer argument offset, if given and non-negative, specifies the maximum starting position in the string to end the search:

'foo'.rindex('o', 0) # => nil
'foo'.rindex('o', 1) # => 1
'foo'.rindex('o', 2) # => 2
'foo'.rindex('o', 3) # => 2

If offset is a negative Integer, the maximum starting position in the string to end the search is the sum of the string’s length and offset:

'foo'.rindex('o', -1) # => 2
'foo'.rindex('o', -2) # => 1
'foo'.rindex('o', -3) # => nil
'foo'.rindex('o', -4) # => nil

Related: String#index.

String#byterindex

Returns the Integer byte-based index of the last occurrence of the given substring, or nil if none found:

'foo'.byterindex('f') # => 0
'foo'.byterindex('o') # => 2
'foo'.byterindex('oo') # => 1
'foo'.byterindex('ooo') # => nil

Returns the Integer byte-based index of the last match for the given Regexp regexp, or nil if none found:

'foo'.byterindex(/f/) # => 0
'foo'.byterindex(/o/) # => 2
'foo'.byterindex(/oo/) # => 1
'foo'.byterindex(/ooo/) # => nil

The last match means starting at the possible last position, not the last of longest matches.

'foo'.byterindex(/o+/) # => 2
$~ #=> #<MatchData "o">

To get the last longest match, needs to combine with negative lookbehind.

'foo'.byterindex(/(?<!o)o+/) # => 1
$~ #=> #<MatchData "oo">

Or String#byteindex with negative lookforward.

'foo'.byteindex(/o+(?!.*o)/) # => 1
$~ #=> #<MatchData "oo">

Integer argument offset, if given and non-negative, specifies the maximum starting byte-based position in the string to end the search:

'foo'.byterindex('o', 0) # => nil
'foo'.byterindex('o', 1) # => 1
'foo'.byterindex('o', 2) # => 2
'foo'.byterindex('o', 3) # => 2

If offset is a negative Integer, the maximum starting position in the string to end the search is the sum of the string’s length and offset:

'foo'.byterindex('o', -1) # => 2
'foo'.byterindex('o', -2) # => 1
'foo'.byterindex('o', -3) # => nil
'foo'.byterindex('o', -4) # => nil

If offset does not land on character (codepoint) boundary, IndexError is raised.

Related: String#byteindex.

String#encoding

Returns the Encoding object that represents the encoding of obj.

String#insert

Inserts the given other_string into self; returns self.

If the Integer index is positive, inserts other_string at offset index:

'foo'.insert(1, 'bar') # => "fbaroo"

If the Integer index is negative, counts backward from the end of self and inserts other_string at offset index+1 (that is, after self[index]):

'foo'.insert(-2, 'bar') # => "fobaro"

String#length

Returns the count of characters (not bytes) in self:

'foo'.length        # => 3
'тест'.length       # => 4
'こんにちは'.length   # => 5

Contrast with String#bytesize:

'foo'.bytesize        # => 3
'тест'.bytesize       # => 8
'こんにちは'.bytesize   # => 15

String#index

Returns the integer index of the first match for the given argument, or nil if none found; the search of self is forward, and begins at position offset (in characters).

With string argument substring, returns the index of the first matching substring in self:

'foo'.index('f')         # => 0
'foo'.index('o')         # => 1
'foo'.index('oo')        # => 1
'foo'.index('ooo')       # => nil
'тест'.index('с')        # => 2
'こんにちは'.index('ち')   # => 3

With Regexp argument regexp, returns the index of the first match in self:

'foo'.index(/o./) # => 1
'foo'.index(/.o/) # => 0

With positive integer offset, begins the search at position offset:

'foo'.index('o', 1)        # => 1
'foo'.index('o', 2)        # => 2
'foo'.index('o', 3)        # => nil
'тест'.index('с', 1)       # => 2
'こんにちは'.index('ち', 2)  # => 3

With negative integer offset, selects the search position by counting backward from the end of self:

'foo'.index('o', -1)  # => 2
'foo'.index('o', -2)  # => 1
'foo'.index('o', -3)  # => 1
'foo'.index('o', -4)  # => nil
'foo'.index(/o./, -2) # => 1
'foo'.index(/.o/, -2) # => 1

Related: String#rindex.

String#byteindex

Returns the Integer byte-based index of the first occurrence of the given substring, or nil if none found:

'foo'.byteindex('f') # => 0
'foo'.byteindex('o') # => 1
'foo'.byteindex('oo') # => 1
'foo'.byteindex('ooo') # => nil

Returns the Integer byte-based index of the first match for the given Regexp regexp, or nil if none found:

'foo'.byteindex(/f/) # => 0
'foo'.byteindex(/o/) # => 1
'foo'.byteindex(/oo/) # => 1
'foo'.byteindex(/ooo/) # => nil

Integer argument offset, if given, specifies the byte-based position in the string to begin the search:

'foo'.byteindex('o', 1) # => 1
'foo'.byteindex('o', 2) # => 2
'foo'.byteindex('o', 3) # => nil

If offset is negative, counts backward from the end of self:

'foo'.byteindex('o', -1) # => 2
'foo'.byteindex('o', -2) # => 1
'foo'.byteindex('o', -3) # => 1
'foo'.byteindex('o', -4) # => nil

If offset does not land on character (codepoint) boundary, IndexError is raised.

Related: String#index, String#byterindex.

String#inspect

Returns a printable version of self, enclosed in double-quotes, and with special characters escaped:

s = "foo\tbar\tbaz\n"
s.inspect
# => "\"foo\\tbar\\tbaz\\n\""

String#lines

Forms substrings (“lines”) of self according to the given arguments (see String#each_line for details); returns the lines in an array.

String#codepoints

Returns an array of the codepoints in self; each codepoint is the integer value for a character:

'hello'.codepoints     # => [104, 101, 108, 108, 111]
'тест'.codepoints      # => [1090, 1077, 1089, 1090]
'こんにちは'.codepoints # => [12371, 12435, 12395, 12385, 12399]

String#intern

Returns the Symbol corresponding to str, creating the symbol if it did not previously exist. See Symbol#id2name.

"Koala".intern         #=> :Koala
s = 'cat'.to_sym       #=> :cat
s == :cat              #=> true
s = '@cat'.to_sym      #=> :@cat
s == :@cat             #=> true

This can also be used to create symbols that cannot be represented using the :xxx notation.

'cat and dog'.to_sym   #=> :"cat and dog"

String#include?

Returns true if self contains other_string, false otherwise:

s = 'foo'
s.include?('f')    # => true
s.include?('fo')   # => true
s.include?('food') # => false

String#ljust

Returns a left-justified copy of self.

If integer argument size is greater than the size (in characters) of self, returns a new string of length size that is a copy of self, left justified and padded on the right with pad_string:

'hello'.ljust(10)       # => "hello     "
'  hello'.ljust(10)     # => "  hello   "
'hello'.ljust(10, 'ab') # => "helloababa"
'тест'.ljust(10)        # => "тест      "
'こんにちは'.ljust(10)    # => "こんにちは     "

If size is not greater than the size of self, returns a copy of self:

'hello'.ljust(5)  # => "hello"
'hello'.ljust(1)  # => "hello"

Related: String#rjust, String#center.

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