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textutil(3tcl) Text and string utilities, macro processing textutil(3tcl) 





NAME


textutil - Procedures to manipulate texts and strings.






SYNOPSIS


package require Tcl 8.5 9


package require textutil ?0.10?


::textutil::adjust string args


::textutil::adjust::readPatterns filename


::textutil::adjust::listPredefined


::textutil::adjust::getPredefined filename


::textutil::indent string prefix
    ?skip?


::textutil::undent string


::textutil::splitn string ?len?


::textutil::splitx string ?regexp?


::textutil::tabify string ?num?


::textutil::tabify2 string ?num?


::textutil::trim string ?regexp?


::textutil::trimleft string ?regexp?


::textutil::trimright string ?regexp?


::textutil::trimPrefix string prefix


::textutil::trimEmptyHeading string


::textutil::untabify string ?num?


::textutil::untabify2 string ?num?


::textutil::strRepeat text num


::textutil::blank num


::textutil::chop string


::textutil::tail string


::textutil::cap string


::textutil::uncap string


::textutil::longestCommonPrefixList list


::textutil::longestCommonPrefix ?string...?










DESCRIPTION


The package textutil provides commands that manipulate
    strings or texts (a.k.a. long strings or string with embedded newlines or
    paragraphs). It is actually a bundle providing the commands of the six
    packages



  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  




in the namespace textutil.


The bundle is deprecated, and it will be removed in a
    future release of Tcllib, after the next release. It is recommended to use
    the relevant sub packages instead for whatever functionality is needed by
    the using package or application.


The complete set of procedures is described below.



  
::textutil::adjust string args

  
Do a justification on the string according to args. The
      string is taken as one big paragraph, ignoring any newlines. Then the line
      is formatted according to the options used, and the command return a new
      string with enough lines to contain all the printable chars in the input
      string. A line is a set of chars between the beginning of the string and a
      newline, or between 2 newlines, or between a newline and the end of the
      string. If the input string is small enough, the returned string won't
      contain any newlines.
    
Together with ::textutil::indent it is possible to
        create properly wrapped paragraphs with arbitrary indentations.

    
By default, any occurrence of spaces characters or tabulation
        are replaced by a single space so each word in a line is separated from
        the next one by exactly one space char, and this forms a real
        line. Each real line is placed in a logical line, which
        have exactly a given length (see -length option below). The
        real line may have a lesser length. Again by default, any
        trailing spaces are ignored before returning the string (see
        -full option below). The following options may be used after the
        string parameter, and change the way the command place a
        real line in a logical line.

  







  

  
If set to false, any trailing space chars are deleted before
      returning the string. If set to true, any trailing space chars are
      left in the string. Default to false.

  

  
if set to false, no hyphenation will be done. If set to
      true, the last word of a line is tried to be hyphenated. Defaults
      to false. Note: hyphenation patterns must be loaded prior, using
      the command ::textutil::adjust::readPatterns.

  

  
Set the justification of the returned string to center,
      left, plain or right. By default, it is set to
      left. The justification means that any line in the returned string
      but the last one is build according to the value. If the justification is
      set to plain and the number of printable chars in the last line is
      less than 90% of the length of a line (see -length), then this line
      is justified with the left value, avoiding the expansion of this
      line when it is too small. The meaning of each value is:







  

  
The real line is centered in the logical line. If needed, a set of space
      characters are added at the beginning (half of the needed set) and at the
      end (half of the needed set) of the line if required (see the option
      -full).

  

  
The real line is set on the left of the logical line. It means that there
      are no space chars at the beginning of this line. If required, all needed
      space chars are added at the end of the line (see the option
      -full).

  

  
The real line is exactly set in the logical line. It means that there are
      no leading or trailing space chars. All the needed space chars are added
      in the real line, between 2 (or more) words.

  
  
The real line is set on the right of the logical line. It means that there
      are no space chars at the end of this line, and there may be some space
      chars at the beginning, despite of the -full option.







  

  
Set the length of the logical line in the string to integer.
      integer must be a positive integer value. Defaults to
    72.

  

  
If set to false, a line can exceed the specified -length if
      a single word is longer than -length. If set to true, words
      that are longer than -length are split so that no line exceeds the
      specified -length. Defaults to false.







  
::textutil::adjust::readPatterns filename

  
Loads the internal storage for hyphenation patterns with the contents of
      the file filename. This has to be done prior to calling command
      ::textutil::adjust with "-hyphenate true",
      or the hyphenation process will not work correctly.
    
The package comes with a number of predefined pattern files,
        and the command ::textutil::adjust::listPredefined can be used to
        find out their names.

  

  
::textutil::adjust::listPredefined

  
This command returns a list containing the names of the hyphenation files
      coming with this package.

  
::textutil::adjust::getPredefined filename

  
Use this command to query the package for the full path name of the
      hyphenation file filename coming with the package. Only the
      filenames found in the list returned by
      ::textutil::adjust::listPredefined are legal arguments for this
      command.

  
::textutil::indent string prefix ?skip?

  
Each line in the string indented by adding the string prefix
      at its beginning. The modified string is returned as the result of the
      command.
    
If skip is specified the first skip lines are
        left untouched. The default for skip is 0, causing the
        modification of all lines. Negative values for skip are treated
        like 0. In other words, skip > 0 creates a
        hanging indentation.

    
Together with ::textutil::adjust it is possible to
        create properly wrapped paragraphs with arbitrary indentations.

  

  
::textutil::undent string

  
The command computes the common prefix for all lines in string
      consisting solely out of whitespace, removes this from each line and
      returns the modified string.
    
Lines containing only whitespace are always reduced to
        completely empty lines. They and empty lines are also ignored when
        computing the prefix to remove.

    
Together with ::textutil::adjust it is possible to
        create properly wrapped paragraphs with arbitrary indentations.

  

  
::textutil::splitn string ?len?

  
This command splits the given string into chunks of len
      characters and returns a list containing these chunks. The argument
      len defaults to 1 if none is specified. A negative length is
      not allowed and will cause the command to throw an error. Providing an
      empty string as input is allowed, the command will then return an empty
      list. If the length of the string is not an entire multiple of the
      chunk length, then the last chunk in the generated list will be shorter
      than len.

  
::textutil::splitx string ?regexp?

  
Split the string and return a list. The string is split according
      to the regular expression regexp instead of a simple list of chars.
      Note that if you add parenthesis into the regexp, the parentheses
      part of separator would be added into list as additional element. If the
      string is empty the result is the empty list, like for
      split. If regexp is empty the string is split at
      every character, like split does. The regular expression
      regexp defaults to "[\\t \\r\\n]+".

  
::textutil::tabify string ?num?

  
Tabify the string by replacing any substring of num space
      chars by a tabulation and return the result as a new string. num
      defaults to 8.

  
::textutil::tabify2 string ?num?

  
Similar to ::textutil::tabify this command tabifies the
      string and returns the result as a new string. A different
      algorithm is used however. Instead of replacing any substring of
      num spaces this command works more like an editor. num
      defaults to 8.
    
Each line of the text in string is treated as if there
        are tabstops every num columns. Only sequences of space
        characters containing more than one space character and found
        immediately before a tabstop are replaced with tabs.

  

  
::textutil::trim string ?regexp?

  
Remove in string any leading and trailing substring according to
      the regular expression regexp and return the result as a new
      string. This apply on any line in the string, that is any substring
      between 2 newline chars, or between the beginning of the string and a
      newline, or between a newline and the end of the string, or, if the string
      contain no newline, between the beginning and the end of the string. The
      regular expression regexp defaults to "[ \\t]+".

  
::textutil::trimleft string ?regexp?

  
Remove in string any leading substring according to the regular
      expression regexp and return the result as a new string. This apply
      on any line in the string, that is any substring between 2 newline
      chars, or between the beginning of the string and a newline, or between a
      newline and the end of the string, or, if the string contain no newline,
      between the beginning and the end of the string. The regular expression
      regexp defaults to "[ \\t]+".

  
::textutil::trimright string ?regexp?

  
Remove in string any trailing substring according to the regular
      expression regexp and return the result as a new string. This apply
      on any line in the string, that is any substring between 2 newline
      chars, or between the beginning of the string and a newline, or between a
      newline and the end of the string, or, if the string contain no newline,
      between the beginning and the end of the string. The regular expression
      regexp defaults to "[ \\t]+".

  
::textutil::trimPrefix string prefix

  
Removes the prefix from the beginning of string and returns
      the result. The string is left unchanged if it doesn't have
      prefix at its beginning.

  
::textutil::trimEmptyHeading string

  
Looks for empty lines (including lines consisting of only whitespace) at
      the beginning of the string and removes it. The modified string is
      returned as the result of the command.

  
::textutil::untabify string ?num?

  
Untabify the string by replacing any tabulation char by a substring
      of num space chars and return the result as a new string.
      num defaults to 8.

  
::textutil::untabify2 string ?num?

  
Untabify the string by replacing any tabulation char by a substring
      of at most num space chars and return the result as a new string.
      Unlike textutil::untabify each tab is not replaced by a fixed
      number of space characters. The command overlays each line in the
      string with tabstops every num columns instead and replaces
      tabs with just enough space characters to reach the next tabstop. This is
      the complement of the actions taken by ::textutil::tabify2.
      num defaults to 8.
    
There is one asymmetry though: A tab can be replaced with a
        single space, but not the other way around.

  

  
::textutil::strRepeat text num

  
The implementation depends on the core executing the package. Used
      string repeat if it is present, or a fast tcl implementation if it
      is not. Returns a string containing the text repeated num
      times. The repetitions are joined without characters between them. A value
      of num <= 0 causes the command to return an empty string.

  
::textutil::blank num

  
A convenience command. Returns a string of num spaces.

  
::textutil::chop string

  
A convenience command. Removes the last character of string and
      returns the shortened string.

  
::textutil::tail string

  
A convenience command. Removes the first character of string and
      returns the shortened string.

  
::textutil::cap string

  
Capitalizes the first character of string and returns the modified
      string.

  
::textutil::uncap string

  
The complementary operation to ::textutil::cap. Forces the first
      character of string to lower case and returns the modified
    string.

  
::textutil::longestCommonPrefixList list

  

  
::textutil::longestCommonPrefix ?string...?

  
Computes the longest common prefix for either the strings given to
      the command, or the strings specified in the single list, and
      returns it as the result of the command.
    
If no strings were specified the result is the empty string.
        If only one string was specified, the string itself is returned, as it
        is its own longest common prefix.

  








BUGS, IDEAS, FEEDBACK


This document, and the package it describes, will undoubtedly
    contain bugs and other problems. Please report such in the category
    textutil of the Tcllib Trackers
    [http://core.tcl.tk/tcllib/reportlist]. Please also report any ideas for
    enhancements you may have for either package and/or documentation.


When proposing code changes, please provide unified diffs,
    i.e the output of diff -u.


Note further that attachments are strongly preferred over
    inlined patches. Attachments can be made by going to the Edit form of
    the ticket immediately after its creation, and then using the left-most
    button in the secondary navigation bar.






SEE ALSO


regexp(3tcl), split(3tcl), string(3tcl)






KEYWORDS


TeX, formatting, hyphenation, indenting, paragraph, regular
    expression, string, trimming






CATEGORY


Text processing







  

    0.10
    tcllib