This shows you the differences between two versions of the page.
— |
left [2006/08/01 04:13] (current) |
||
---|---|---|---|
Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
+ | # $EPIC: left.txt,v 1.4 2006/08/01 04:12:59 sthalik Exp $ | ||
+ | ======Synopsis:====== | ||
+ | $__left__(<count> <text>) | ||
+ | |||
+ | ======Technical:====== | ||
+ | * If <count> is omitted, this function returns the empty string. | ||
+ | * If <text> is omitted, this function returns the empty string. | ||
+ | * If <count> is less than 0, this function returns the empty string. | ||
+ | * If <text> is more than <count> characters long, then this function will return a copy of the first <count> characters in <text>. | ||
+ | * If <text> is less than or exactly <count> characters long, then this function will return a copy of <text> | ||
+ | |||
+ | ======Practical:====== | ||
+ | Whenever you need to extract the initial part of a string, you would use | ||
+ | this function to get it. This is more useful for fixed-format strings. | ||
+ | ircII used to use $left($[[index]](<char> <text>) <text>) to extract the part | ||
+ | of <text> that was before <char>. In EPIC, use $[[before]](<char> <text>) | ||
+ | because it is faster, more clear, and doesn't require two copies of <text>, | ||
+ | which may be important if <text> is a function call. | ||
+ | |||
+ | ======Returns:====== | ||
+ | The first <count> characters in <text>. No padding is done. If you need | ||
+ | a string that is always <count> characters long, try: | ||
+ | <file> | ||
+ | $pad(<count> " " $left(<count> <text>)) | ||
+ | </file> | ||
+ | |||
+ | ======Examples:====== | ||
+ | <file> | ||
+ | $left(5 biklmnopstv) returns "biklm" | ||
+ | $left(15 biklmnopstv) returns "biklmnopstv" | ||
+ | $left(-2 biklmnopstv) returns nothing | ||
+ | $left($index(@ $userhost()) $userhost()) returns a username in an /on. | ||
+ | -- Note that this construction is obsolete, but is still used by some. | ||
+ | </file> | ||
+ | |||
+ | ======History:====== | ||
+ | This function first appeared in ircII. | ||