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Function [other Function type actions]
Item [operators of similar scope]
Data manipulation [other Data manipulation operators]
Baseline
As at baseline
String.substr(startNum[, lengthNum])
This operator allows extraction of a substring from a string attribute. The source string is not affected.
$MyString.substr(startN)
returns the substring of $MyString beginning startNum characters from the beginning. The numbers for startN and lengthN are 0-based, i.e. zero is character position #1. A negative startNum value counts back from the end of the string .Negative values are 1-based, i.e. the -1 represents the last character in the string.
In the examples below assume $MyString's value is "Hello World". Examples:
$MyString = "abcde".substr(2); returns "cde"
$MyString = "abcde".substr(-2); returns "de"
$MyString = $MyString.substr(6); returns "World"
If the string does not contain at least startNum characters, the empty string is returned.
A second argument lengthNum specifies the length of the returned string. If unspecified, the entire remaining string is returned.
$MyString = "abcde".substr(2,2); returns "cd"
$MyString = "abcde".substr(-3,2); returns "cd"
$MyString = $MyString.substr(0,5); returns "Hello"
If the length of the substring is negative, it is treated as an offset from the end of the string.
$MyString = "Hello".substr(1,-1); → "ell"
Besides strings and string literals, this operator can also be used on other attribute data types that are string-like, URL, File, etc. Although the operator also works on lists/sets, the source data is all the values as a single semi-colon-joined string literal so there is less point in its use in this context.
This function respects existing rich text styling.
Trimming leading/trailing quotes
See String.trim().
Working with styled text
This operator is capable of worthing with StyledString operators: StyledString.bold, StyledString.fontSize(), StyledString.italic and StyledString.strike.