Site Tools


wordtoindex
no way to compare when less than two revisions

Differences

This shows you the differences between two versions of the page.


wordtoindex [2006/08/29 16:08] (current) – created - external edit 127.0.0.1
Line 1: Line 1:
 +# $EPIC: wordtoindex.txt,v 1.2 2006/08/20 18:32:13 sthalik Exp $
 +======Synopsis:======
 +$__wordtoindex__(<number> <list>)
 +
 +======Technical:======
 +   * If the <number> argument is omitted, the empty string is returned.
 +   * If <number> is negative, then the value 0 is returned.
 +   * If <number> is greater than the actual number of words in <list>, then the return value of this function is the same as would be returned by $strlen(<list>).
 +   * There is only one space that separates <number> from <list> Any further spaces between <number> and <list> are part of <list> for the purpose of counting.
 +   * The return value is the character position (as would be returned by $[[index]]() and could be used by $[[right]]() et al) of the first character in the <number>th word in <list>.
 +   * <number> counts from zero!
 +
 +======Practical:======
 +The most practical use of this function is to permit you to find the 
 +beginning position of a word in a string, especially after you have had
 +to change the length of some of the words in the list.  This technique is
 +most obviously used by tab completion scripts which will take the input 
 +line ($L), the cursor position ($[[curpos]]()), and use the $[[indextoword]]() 
 +function to figure out where the cursor is.  Then they rewrite the input
 +line using tab completion, and use $wordtoindex() to figure out where the
 +cursor is supposed to go after the input line has been rewritten.
 +
 +======Returns:======
 +The number of characters before the beginning of the <number>th word
 +in <list>, where <number> counts from zero.
 +
 +======Examples:======
 +<file>
 +$wordtoindex(2 foo bar blah)           returns 8
 +$wordtoindex(999 foo bar blah)         returns 12
 +$wordtoindex(-1 foo bar blah)          returns 0
 +</file>
  
wordtoindex.txt · Last modified: 2006/08/29 16:08 by 127.0.0.1