The String Class

Methods

Table 1. Object Methods
Name	Description
`String charAt(Numeric index)`	Returns the character at the specified `index` in the current String.
`Boolean contains(String s)`	Returns TRUE if `s` is contained within the current String; otherwise FALSE.
`Boolean endsWith(String s)`	Returns TRUE if the current String ends with `s`; otherwise FALSE.
`Boolean equals(String s)`	Returns TRUE if s matches the current String; otherwise FALSE.
`Boolean equalsIgnoreCase(String s)`	Returns TRUE if s matches the current String, ignoring character case; otherwise FALSE.
`String format(Numeric number, Enum format)`	Sets the format of the page number string for a PAGENOBOX.
`Numeric indexOf(String s [, Numeric index ])`	Returns the index of a substring within the current String.
`Boolean isEmpty()`	Returns TRUE if the current string has a length of zero (`length()=0`); otherwise FALSE.
`Boolean isNull()`	Returns TRUE if the current string has a length of zero (`length()=0`) and the string is tagged as null; otherwise FALSE. This is the case for null valued input variables read from the input stream.
`Numeric lastIndexOf(String s [, Numeric index ])`	Returns the index of s within the current String of the last occurrence of s, searching backward.
`Numeric length()`	Returns the length of the current String
`Boolean matches(String s)`	Returns TRUE if the current string matches the regular expression s; otherwise FALSE.
`String replace(String old, String new)`	Replaces old in the current String with new.
`String replaceAll(String old, String new)`	Replaces every occurrence of old in the current String with new.
`String replaceFirst(String old, String new)`	Replaces the first occurrence of old in the current String with new.
`Boolean startsWith(String s [, Numeric index ])`	Returns TRUE if the current String starts with `s`; otherwise FALSE.
`String subString(Numeric startindex [, Numeric endindex ])`	Returns the substring starting at byte position startindex and ending at endindex-1 or the end of the string.
`String toLowerCase()`	Converts the current String to lowercase.
`String toString()`	Converts the current Numeric value to a String.
`String toUpperCase()`	Converts the current String to uppercase.
`String translate()`	Uses the current String as the key for a lookup in Genero localization files; returns any entry found, otherwise returns the current String itself.
`String trim()`	Removes white space characters from the beginning and end of the current String.
`String trimCompress()`	Removes white space characters from the beginning and end of the current String, as well as any contained white space.
`String trimLeft()`	Removes white space characters from the beginning of the current String.
`String trimRight()`	Removes white space characters from the end of the current String.
`String urlEncode()`	Returns a URL encoding of the current String

Usage

With RTL classes, it is not possible to create and subclass objects. The new keyword is not supported.

All literal String values in an expression must be delimited by double quotes.

All the methods require an object instance. When you invoke the method, it is prefixed with the object instance name and the "." character. You can get an object instance by referencing a 4GL variable or by calling a method on another object. The object can be a literal value, for example:

"Test".length()

When specifying the character position (index) of a string, the first character value is at position 0.

Concatenating Strings

Use the + operator to concatenate strings. For example:

("Total:"+" "+order_line.totalorderprice).toString()

This expression returns the current value of totalorderprice as part of a String value:

Total: 12.95