IDL_String

The IDL_String class contains static methods that are available for all IDL strings. In addition, because IDL_String is a subclass of IDL_Variable, all of the IDL_Variable methods are also available.

Superclasses

IDL_Variable

IDL_String Methods

CapWords: Capitalize any words contained within the string.
CharAt: Returns the character at the supplied index.
Compress: Removes all white space.
Contains: Returns true if the string contains a given substring.
Decrypt: Decrypts the string using the RSA asymmetric cryptosystem.
Dup: Duplicates a scalar string.
Encrypt: Encrypts the string using the RSA asymmetric cryptosystem.
EndsWith: Returns true if the string ends with the given string.
Extract: Returns part of the string using a regular expression.
IndexOf: Returns the index of a character or substring.
Insert: Inserts another string.
Join: Combines multiple strings into a single string.
LastIndexOf: Returns the last index of a character or substring.
Matches: Returns true if the string matches a regular expression.
Remove: Remove part of a string.
Replace: Replaces text within the string.
Reverse: Reverse a string.
Split: Split into substrings using a regular expression.
StartsWith: Returns true if the string starts with the given string.
Strlen: Returns the string length.
Substring: Returns part of a string.
ToByte: Converts to a byte array.
ToLower: Convert all characters to lowercase.
ToUpper: Convert all characters to uppercase.
Trim: Removes leading and trailing white space.

Examples

IDL_String::CapWords

The IDL_String::CapWords method capitalizes the beginning letter of all words within the string.

Examples

Create a sentence and print the result of CapWords on that sentence:

str = "hello fellow IDL user."

PRINT, str.CapWords( )

IDL prints:

Hello Fellow IDL User.

Pass in a character for the space argument, and include the optional keywords:

str = "helloNfellowniDLNuser."

PRINT, str.CapWords('n', /FOLD_CASE, /IGNORE_FIRST)

IDL prints:

helloNFellownIDLNUser.

Syntax

Result = var.CapWords( [Char] [, /FOLD_CASE] [, /IGNORE_FIRST] )

Return Value

A string with a value containing capitalized characters as specified by the given argument or keywords. If var is an array then Result is a string array of the same dimensions.

Arguments

Char

A string containing the character used to separate words. The default is a single space character.

Keywords

FOLD_CASE

Set this keyword to ignore case when searching for the Char character (only needed if Char is a letter A-Z or a-z).

IGNORE_FIRST

Set this keyword to ignore the capitalization of the first character.

IDL_String::CharAt

The IDL_String::CharAt method returns a character from the string.

Examples

Create a string and print the result given an index:

str = "IDL"

; Print the character at each index.

FOR i=0, str.StrLen( )-1 DO PRINT, str.CharAt(i)

IDL prints:

Syntax

Result = var.CharAt( Index )

Return Value

A string containing the character found at the given index. If var is an array then Result is a string array of the same dimensions.

Arguments

Index

The index of the character to return.

Keywords

None.

IDL_String::Compress

The IDL_String::Compress method removes all spaces and tabs within a string. This is equivalent to calling STRCOMPRESS with the REMOVE_ALL keyword.

Examples

Create a string with spaces:

str = " I D L is C o o l ! "

PRINT,  str.Strlen( )

newstr = str.Compress()

; Print the new string and its length.

PRINT, newstr, newstr.Strlen( )

IDL prints:

IDLisCool!

Syntax

Result = var.Compress( )

Return Value

The string with all white space removed. If var is an array then the result is a string array of the same dimensions.

Arguments

None.

Keywords

None.

IDL_String::Contains

The IDL_String::Contains method determines whether the string contains a given substring.

Examples

Determine whether each element of a string array contains a specific substring:

str = ['code.pro', 'image.jpg', 'file.txt']

PRINT, str.Contains('.pro')

IDL prints:

1  0  0

Syntax

Result = var.Contains( Substring, /FOLD_CASE )

Return Value

The result is a boolean value 1 (true) if the string contains the substring, or 0 otherwise. If var is an array then Result is a byte array of the same dimensions.

Arguments

Substring

The string to compare against.

Keywords

FOLD_CASE

Set this keyword to ignore case when doing comparisons.

IDL_String::Decrypt

The IDL_String::Decrypt method decrypts a string using the private key from a public/private key pair in the RSA asymmetric cryptosystem. See the Encrypt method below for details on the encryption method. You can use IDL to generate key pairs using the RSA_PRIVATE_KEY and RSA_PUBLIC_KEY functions.

Examples

clearText = 'xyzzy'

privateKey = RSA_PRIVATE_KEY(2048)

publicKey = RSA_PUBLIC_KEY(privateKey)

encrypted = clearText.Encrypt(publicKey)

decrypted = encrypted.Decrypt(privateKey)

print, decrypted

IDL prints:

xyzzy

Syntax

Result = var.Decrypt( PrivateKey )

Return Value

A string containing the decrypted value. If var is an array then Result is a string array of the same dimensions, where each string has been decrypted with the private key.

Arguments

PrivateKey

A scalar string or string array containing the private key to be used for decryption. PrivateKey should be an RSA Private Key (PKCS#1) in the PEM format:

-----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY-----

MIIBOQIBAAJBAPOXacw2mXRlHhP8xBfwm+7GPKnPb6lqDfWdo/HWRj8qmezUMa28

0n7s1LUBWkbJ7l13vcZCyfaDsL7FEqIHqwsCAw...

-----END RSA PRIVATE KEY-----

If PrivateKey is a scalar string then all of the lines should be joined together with newline (ASCII code 10) characters. PrivateKey can also be specified as a string array containing the individual lines.

Keywords

None

IDL_String::Dup

The IDL_String::Dup method duplicates a scalar string and returns either another scalar string or an array.

Examples

IDL> a = '*'

IDL> print, a.Dup(10)

**********

IDL> b = a.Dup([6,5,2])

IDL> b.dim

    5            2

IDL> print, b

****** ****** ****** ****** ******

****** ****** ****** ****** ******

Syntax

Result = var.Dup( Dim )

Return Value

Returns either a scalar string (if Dim is a scalar), or a string array of one less dimension than Dim, where Dim[0] indicates the number of copies of var in each element.

Arguments

Dim

A scalar expression or a vector of up to eight elements.

Keywords

None

IDL_String::Encrypt

The IDL_String::Encrypt method encrypts the string using the RSA asymmetric cryptosystem, which requires a public key to encrypt and a private key to decrypt. As denoted by their names, the public key is shared with others, while the private key should be kept secret. You can use IDL to generate key pairs using the RSA_PRIVATE_KEY and RSA_PUBLIC_KEY functions.

The key size that was used when creating the public/private key pair determines the maximum string length that may be encrypted. Specifically, one character may be encrypted for every eight bits in the key. Additionally, IDL uses secure PKCS#1 OAEP padding, which further reduces the maximum string length by 42 characters. Typical key sizes and corresponding string lengths are listed below:

Key Size (bits)	Maximum String Length (bytes)
512	22
1024	86
2048	214
4096	470
8192	982

The maximum string length is given by (key size / 8) – 42.

Note: The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) recommends a minimum RSA key size of 2048 bits.

Examples

clearText = 'xyzzy'

privateKey = RSA_PRIVATE_KEY(2048)

publicKey = RSA_PUBLIC_KEY(privateKey)

encrypted = clearText.Encrypt(publicKey)

print, encrypted

IDL prints:

A8GLhi0HzRiDGcg1RdPVl0YVm60oL5TjzDXpKIezxW4BuD8Z5N6Y7AJ+9eaL691...

Note: Because of the built-in randomness of RSA, calling the Encrypt method again on the same string will give a different result for each call.

Syntax

Result = var.Encrypt( PublicKey )

Return Value

A string containing the encrypted value. If var is an array then Result is a string array of the same dimensions, where each string has been encrypted with the public key.

Arguments

PublicKey

A scalar string or string array containing the public key to be used for encryption. PublicKey should be an X.509 SubjectPublicKeyInfo/OpenSSL key in the PEM format:

-----BEGIN PUBLIC KEY-----

MFwwDQYJKoZIhvcNAQEBBQADSwAwSAJBAPOXacw2mXRlHhP8xBfwm+7GPKnPb6lq

DfWdo/HWRj8qmezUMa280n7s1LUBWkbJ7l13vcZCy...

-----END PUBLIC KEY-----

If PublicKey is a scalar string then all of the lines should be joined together with newline (ASCII code 10) characters. PublicKey can also be specified as a string array containing the individual lines.

Keywords

None

IDL_String::EndsWith

The IDL_String::EndsWith method determines whether the string ends with a given string.

Examples

Create a sentence and print the result of EndsWith on that sentence:

str = "hello fellow IDL user..."

; Check if the string ends with 3 periods.

PRINT, str.EndsWith('...')

IDL prints:

Syntax

Result = var.EndsWith( String [, /FOLD_CASE] )

Return Value

A boolean value of 0 (false) or 1 (true). If var is an array then Result is a byte array of the same dimensions.

Arguments

String

The string to compare against the end of the string variable.

Keywords

FOLD_CASE

Set this keyword to ignore case when doing comparisons.

IDL_String::Extract

The IDL_String::Extract method extracts the first substring that matches a regular expression.

Examples

Create a sentence and extract text out of it:

str = "Hello fellow IDL user."

PRINT, str.Extract('f[a-z]{5}')

IDL prints:

fellow

Syntax

Result = var.Extract( RegEx [, /FOLD_CASE] [, /SUBEXPR] )

Return Value

A string containing the extracted text. If var is an array then Result is a string array of the same dimensions.

Arguments

RegEx

A string giving the regular expression to match against. See Regular Expressions for details.

Keywords

FOLD_CASE

Set this keyword to ignore case when doing comparisons.

SUBEXPR

By default, IDL_STRING::Extract only returns a single string containing the overall match (or a string array if your variable was an array). Setting SUBEXPR causes it to return an array containing the overall match as well as any subexpression matches. A subexpression is any part of a regular expression written within parentheses. For example, the regular expression "abc+" has no sub-expressions while the regular expression "(a)(b)(c+)" has 3 subexpressions. For the regular expression "(a)(b)(c+)", the result will therefore be a 4-element vector: one for the overall match and three more for the subexpressions. If a subexpression participated in the match several times, the reported substring is the last one that matched.

Note: If your variable is an array then the result will be an array of one higher dimension, where the first dimension contains the sub expressions. For example, if var was a [10, 5] string array, and you use the regular expression "(a)(b)(c+)", then the result will be a [4, 10, 5] string array.

IDL_String::IndexOf

The IDL_String::IndexOf method returns the index of a character or sub-string within the string.

Examples

Create a string array with some data:

str = ["iaa", "aIa", "aai", "aaa"]

; Find the indexes for the letter i.

PRINT, str.IndexOf('i', /FOLD_CASE)

IDL prints:

0           1           2          -1

Syntax

Result = var.IndexOf( Substring [, Start] [, /FOLD_CASE] )

Return Value

An integer giving the index of the first match of the substring. If the substring is not found then -1 is returned. If var is an array then the result is an integer array of the same dimensions.

Arguments

Substring

A string giving the character or substring to search for.

Start

An optional index at which to start searching. If Start is beyond the string's length then -1 is returned.

Keywords

FOLD_CASE

Set this keyword to ignore case when doing comparisons.

IDL_String::Insert

The IDL_String::Insert method inserts text at a specified index within the string.

Examples

Create a sentence and print the result after insert:

str = "Hello IDL user."

; Insert at index 5.

PRINT, str.Insert(" fellow", 5)

IDL prints:

Hello fellow IDL user.

Extend the sentence and use the FILL keyword:

; The FILL keyword will add the space for us.

str = str.Insert("How are you?", 16, FILL=' ')

PRINT, str

IDL prints:

Hello IDL user. How are you?

Syntax

Result = var.Insert( String [, Index] [, FILL_CHARACTER=character] )

Return Value

The new string. If var is an array then Result is a string array of the same dimensions.

Arguments

String

If only the string argument is given, the method will insert the string at the end.

Index

An integer giving the index at which to insert the string.

Note: By default, if the index is not a valid index within var then the string will not be inserted; however, you can use the FILL keyword to insert fill characters to allow the new string to be inserted.

Keywords

FILL_CHARACTER

Set this keyword to a single string character that is used to fill empty space if the supplied index is outside of the string's length.

IDL_String::Join

The IDL_String::Join method collapses a one-dimensional string array into a single merged string or a multi-dimensional string array into an array where the first dimension has been merged.

Examples

Create a sentence to split:

str = ["Hello", "fellow", "IDL", "user."]

; Join the string array into a single string.

PRINT, str.Join('-')

IDL prints:

Hello-fellow-IDL-user.

Syntax

Result = var.Join( [Delimiter] )

Return Value

The merged string. If var is a multi-dimensional string array then Result is a string array of one less dimension since the first dimension has been collapsed.

Arguments

Delimiter

An optional separator string to use between the joined strings. If Delimiter is not specified, an empty string is used.

Keywords

None.

IDL_String::LastIndexOf

The IDL_String::LastIndexOf method returns the last index of a given substring within the string.

Examples

Create a string array with some data:

str = ["Apples", "Oranges", "Bananas", "Kiwis"]

; Find the last indexes for the letter a.

PRINT, str.LastIndexOf('a', /FOLD_CASE)

IDL prints:

0           2           5          -1

Syntax

Result = var.LastIndexOf( Substring [, /FOLD_CASE] )

Return Value

An integer giving the index of the last match of the substring. If the substring is not found then -1 is returned. If var is an array then the result is an integer array of the same dimensions.

Arguments

Substring

The character or string to search for.

Keywords

FOLD_CASE

Set this keyword to ignore case when doing comparisons.

IDL_String::Matches

The IDL_String::Matches method determines whether the string matches a regular expression.

Example

Use a regular expression to determine if a string contains a valid integer number:

str = ['123', '-123', ' 4 ', '123abc']

; line begin + optional whitespace + optional negative sign

; + some digits + optional whitespace + line end

result = str.Matches('^ *-?[0-9]+ *$')

PRINT, result

IDL prints:

1 1 1 0

Syntax

Result = var.Matches( RegEx, /FOLD_CASE )

Return Value

A boolean value of 1 if the given string matches the string, or 0 otherwise. If var is an array then the result is a byte array of the same dimensions.

Arguments

RegEx

A string giving the regular expression to be used for matching. See Regular Expressions for details.

Keywords

FOLD_CASE

Set this keyword to ignore case when doing comparisons.

IDL_String::Remove

The IDL_String::Remove method removes part of a string given the start and end index.

Examples

Create a string and remove a section from it:

str = 'An example IDL string'

PRINT, str.Remove(2, 9)

IDL prints:

An IDL string

Create a string and remove the last 4 characters:

str = 'myfilename.pro'

PRINT, str.Remove(-4)

IDL prints:

myfilename

Syntax

Result = var.Remove( StartIndex [, EndIndex] )

Return Value

A new string containing the original string, minus the part that was removed. If var is an array then the result is a string array of the same dimensions.

Arguments

StartIndex

An integer giving the starting position. If StartIndex is negative then it represents an index from the end. If StartIndex is beyond the end then nothing is removed.

EndIndex

An integer giving the ending position. This includes the character at that position. If EndIndex is negative then it represents an index from the end. If not specified or beyond the end then EndIndex will be set to the string length – 1.

Keywords

None.

IDL_String::Replace

The IDL_String::Replace method replaces text within the string with new text.

Examples

Create a string to perform a replace on:

str = "Hello fellow IDL user."

; Print the sentence using replace

PRINT, str.Replace('fellow', 'friendly')

IDL prints:

Hello friendly IDL user.

Syntax

Result = var.Replace( StringFrom, StringTo [, /FOLD_CASE] )

Return Value

A string variable containing the new string. If var is an array then the result is a string array of the same dimensions.

Arguments

StringFrom

Set this argument to the text you want to replace within the variable.

StringTo

Set this argument to the text you want to be inserted in place of StringFrom.

Keywords

FOLD_CASE

Set this keyword to ignore case when doing comparisons.

IDL_String::Reverse

The IDL_String::Reverse method reverses the string.

Examples

Create a string to perform a reverse on:

str = "Racecar"

; Print  using reverse.

PRINT, str.Reverse( )

IDL prints:

racecaR

Syntax

Result = var.Reverse( )

Return Value

The new string. If var is an array then the result is a string array of the same dimensions.

Arguments

None.

Keywords

None.

IDL_String::Split

The IDL_String::Split method splits the string into substrings according to a specified regular expression.

Examples

Create a sentence to split:

str = "Hello fellow IDL user."

; Split using spaces and print the first element.

var = str.Split(' ')

PRINT, var[0]

IDL prints:

Hello

Note that unlike the STRSPLIT function, the Split method preserves all null characters. For example:

IDL> a = '/var/tmp/'

IDL> b = a.Split('/')

IDL> HELP, b

B               STRING    = Array[4]

IDL> PRINT, '   "' + b + '"'

  ""  "var"  "tmp"  ""

This behavior enables you to exactly reconstruct the original input string:

IDL> PRINT, b.Join('/')

/var/tmp/

Syntax

Result = var.Split( RegEx [, /FOLD_CASE] )

Return Value

A string array with values after the split.

Arguments

RegEx

A string giving the regular expression for where to perform the split. See Regular Expressions for details.

Keywords

FOLD_CASE

Set this keyword to ignore case when doing comparisons.

IDL_String::StartsWith

The IDL_String::StartsWith method determines whether the string starts with the supplied string.

Examples

Create a sentence to use StartWith on:

str = "Hello fellow IDL user."

; Print the result of StartsWith

PRINT, str.StartsWith('h')

; Perform the same with /FOLD_CASE

PRINT, str.StartsWith('h', /FOLD_CASE)

IDL prints:

Syntax

Result = var.StartsWith( String [, /FOLD_CASE] )

Return Value

A boolean value of 1 (true) or 0 (false). If var is an array then the result is a byte array of the same dimensions.

Arguments

String

The string to check against the beginning of the variable.

Keywords

FOLD_CASE

Set this keyword to ignore case when doing comparisons.

IDL_String::Strlen

The IDL_String::Strlen method determines the string length.

Examples

Create a sentence and check its length with Strlen:

str = "Hello fellow IDL user."

; Print the length of the string

PRINT, str.Strlen( )

; Now split the string and print the lengths

PRINT, (str.Split(' ')).Strlen()

IDL prints:

5   6   3   5

Syntax

Result = var.StrLen( )

Return Value

The length of the string. If var is an array then the result is an integer array of the same dimensions.

Arguments

None.

Keywords

None.

IDL_String::Substring

The IDL_String::Substring method returns a portion of the string given the start and end index.

Examples

Create a string and return only a portion of it:

str = 'An-IDL-string'

PRINT, str.Substring(3, 5)

IDL prints:

IDL

Now just supply the start index, and return the characters from that index to the end:

str = 'An-IDL-string'

PRINT, str.Substring(3)

IDL prints:

IDL-string

Finally, use a negative index to return characters from the end:

str = 'myfilename.pro'

PRINT, str.Substring(-3)

IDL prints:

pro

Syntax

Result = var.Substring( StartIndex [, EndIndex] )

Return Value

A string containing the specified substring. If var is an array then the result is a string array of the same dimensions.

Arguments

StartIndex

An integer giving the starting position. If StartIndex is negative then it represents an index from the end. If StartIndex is beyond the end then an empty string is returned.

EndIndex

Keywords

None

IDL_String::ToByte

The IDL_String::ToByte method converts the string to a byte array.

Examples

Create a string and convert it to a byte array:

str = 'IDL'

; Print the byte values for each character

PRINT, str.ToByte( )

; Same thing but for a multi-dimensional array

PRINT, (['IDL', 'is', 'fun!']).ToByte()

IDL prints:

73   68  76

73   68  76   0

105 115   0   0

102 117 110  33

Syntax

Result = var.ToByte( )

Return Value

An array of byte values representing the characters of the string. If var is an array then the result is a byte array of one-higher dimension. The first dimension will have a length equal to the longest string in the array.

Arguments

None.

Keywords

None.

IDL_String::ToLower

The IDL_String::ToLower method converts the string to all lowercase characters.

Example

str = "Hello Fellow IDL User."

PRINT, str.ToLower( )

IDL prints:

hello fellow idl user.

Syntax

Result = var.ToLower( )

Return Value

A string with all characters converted to lowercase. If var is an array then the result is a string array of the same dimensions.

Arguments

None.

Keywords

None.

IDL_String::ToUpper

The IDL_String::ToUpper method converts the string to all uppercase characters.

Examples

str = "Hello Fellow IDL User."

PRINT, str.ToUpper( )

IDL prints:

HELLO FELLOW IDL USER.

Syntax

Result = var.ToUpper( )

Return Value

A string with all characters converted to uppercase. If var is an array then the result is a string array of the same dimensions.

Arguments

None.

Keywords

None.

IDL_String::Trim

The IDL_String::Trim method removes any leading and trailing spaces or tabs from the string. This is equivalent to calling STRTRIM with Flag = 2.

Examples

Create a string with spaces before and after text:

str = " IDL is Cool! "

PRINT,  str.Strlen( )

trim_str = str.Trim()

; Print the trimmed string and its length

PRINT, trim_str, trim_str.Strlen( )

IDL prints:

IDL is Cool!

Syntax

Result = var.Trim( )

Return Value

The string with leading and trailing spaces and tabs removed. If var is an array then the result is a string array of the same dimensions.

Arguments

None.

Keywords

None.

Version History

8.4	Introduced
8.8.3	Added Encrypt and Decrypt methods

Product	IDL

Version	9.0