From 717b20ee305e523123bbb18d54fe8e87a78a9cb1 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Burdette Lamar Date: Wed, 6 Apr 2022 15:47:22 -0500 Subject: [DOC] Enhanced RDoc for string slices (#5769) Creates file doc/string/slices.rdoc that the string slicing methods can link to. --- doc/string/slices.rdoc | 138 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 138 insertions(+) create mode 100644 doc/string/slices.rdoc (limited to 'doc/string') diff --git a/doc/string/slices.rdoc b/doc/string/slices.rdoc new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..4689f30cc1 --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/string/slices.rdoc @@ -0,0 +1,138 @@ +== \String Slices + +A _slice_ of a string is a substring that is selected by certain criteria. + +These instance methods make use of slicing: + +- String#[] (also aliased as String#slice) returns a slice copied from +self+. +- String#[]= returns a copy of +self+ with a slice replaced. +- String#slice! returns +self+ with a slice removed. + +Each of the above methods takes arguments that determine the slice +to be copied or replaced. + +The arguments have several forms. +For string +string+, the forms are: + +- string[index]. +- string[start, length]. +- string[range]. +- string[regexp, capture = 0]. +- string[substring]. + +string[index] + +When non-negative integer argument +index+ is given, +the slice is the 1-character substring found in +self+ at character offset +index+: + + 'bar'[0] # => "b" + 'bar'[2] # => "r" + 'bar'[20] # => nil + 'тест'[2] # => "с" + 'こんにちは'[4] # => "は" + +When negative integer +index+ is given, +the slice begins at the offset given by counting backward from the end of +self+: + + 'bar'[-3] # => "b" + 'bar'[-1] # => "r" + 'bar'[-20] # => nil + +string[start, length] + +When non-negative integer arguments +start+ and +length+ are given, +the slice begins at character offset +start+, if it exists, +and continues for +length+ characters, if available: + + 'foo'[0, 2] # => "fo" + 'тест'[1, 2] # => "ес" + 'こんにちは'[2, 2] # => "にち" + # Zero length. + 'foo'[2, 0] # => "" + # Length not entirely available. + 'foo'[1, 200] # => "oo" + # Start out of range. + 'foo'[4, 2] # => nil + +Special case: if +start+ is equal to the length of +self+, +the slice is a new empty string: + + 'foo'[3, 2] # => "" + 'foo'[3, 200] # => "" + +When negative +start+ and non-negative +length+ are given, +the slice beginning is determined by counting backward from the end of +self+, +and the slice continues for +length+ characters, if available: + + 'foo'[-2, 2] # => "oo" + 'foo'[-2, 200] # => "oo" + # Start out of range. + 'foo'[-4, 2] # => nil + +When negative +length+ is given, there is no slice: + + 'foo'[1, -1] # => nil + 'foo'[-2, -1] # => nil + +string[range] + +When Range argument +range+ is given, +creates a substring of +string+ using the indices in +range+. +The slice is then determined as above: + + 'foo'[0..1] # => "fo" + 'foo'[0, 2] # => "fo" + + 'foo'[2...2] # => "" + 'foo'[2, 0] # => "" + + 'foo'[1..200] # => "oo" + 'foo'[1, 200] # => "oo" + + 'foo'[4..5] # => nil + 'foo'[4, 2] # => nil + + 'foo'[-4..-3] # => nil + 'foo'[-4, 2] # => nil + + 'foo'[3..4] # => "" + 'foo'[3, 2] # => "" + + 'foo'[-2..-1] # => "oo" + 'foo'[-2, 2] # => "oo" + + 'foo'[-2..197] # => "oo" + 'foo'[-2, 200] # => "oo" + +string[regexp, capture = 0] + +When the \Regexp argument +regexp+ is given, +and the +capture+ argument is 0, +the slice is the first matching substring found in +self+: + + 'foo'[/o/] # => "o" + 'foo'[/x/] # => nil + s = 'hello there' + s[/[aeiou](.)\1/] # => "ell" + s[/[aeiou](.)\1/, 0] # => "ell" + +If argument +capture+ is given and not 0, +it should be either an capture group index (integer) +or a capture group name (string or symbol); +the slice is the specified capture (see Regexp@Capturing): + + s = 'hello there' + s[/[aeiou](.)\1/, 1] # => "l" + s[/(?[aeiou])(?[^aeiou])/, "non_vowel"] # => "l" + s[/(?[aeiou])(?[^aeiou])/, :vowel] # => "e" + +If an invalid capture group index is given, there is no slice. +If an invalid capture group name is given, +IndexError+ is raised. + +string[substring] + +When the single \String argument +substring+ is given, +returns the substring from +self+ if found, otherwise +nil+: + + 'foo'['oo'] # => "oo" + 'foo'['xx'] # => nil -- cgit v1.2.1