java.lang
Class String

asType

public Object asType(Class c)

 

Provides a method to perform custom 'dynamic' type conversion to the given class using the as operator.

Example: '123' as Double

By default, the following types are supported:

• List
• BigDecimal
• BigInteger
• Long
• Integer
• Short
• Byte
• Character
• Double
• Float
• File
• Subclasses of Enum (Java 5 and above)

If any other type is given, the call is delegated to Object#asType.

Parameters:

c - the desired class.

Returns:

the converted object

Since:

1.0

bitwiseNegate

public Pattern bitwiseNegate()

 

Turns a String into a regular expression Pattern

Returns:

the regular expression pattern

Since:

1.5.0

capitalize

public String capitalize()

 

Convenience method to capitalize the first letter of a string (typically the first letter of a word). Example usage:

assert 'h'.capitalize() == 'H'
assert 'hello'.capitalize() == 'Hello'
assert 'hello world'.capitalize() == 'Hello world'
assert 'Hello World' ==
    'hello world'.split(' ').collect{ it.capitalize() }.join(' ')

Returns:

The capitalized String

Since:

1.7.3

center

public String center(Number numberOfChars, String padding)

 

Pad a String to a minimum length specified by numberOfChars, appending the supplied padding String around the original as many times as needed keeping it centered. If the String is already the same size or bigger than the target numberOfChars, then the original String is returned. An example:

['A', 'BB', 'CCC', 'DDDD'].each{ println '|' + it.center(6, '+') + '|' }

will produce output like:

|++A+++|
|++BB++|
|+CCC++|
|+DDDD+|

Parameters:

numberOfChars - the total minimum number of characters of the resulting string.

padding - the characters used for padding.

Returns:

the String centered with padded characters around it

Since:

1.0

center

public String center(Number numberOfChars)

 

Pad a String to a minimum length specified by numberOfChars by adding the space character around it as many times as needed so that it remains centered. If the String is already the same size or bigger than the target numberOfChars, then the original String is returned. An example:

['A', 'BB', 'CCC', 'DDDD'].each{ println '|' + it.center(6) + '|' }

will produce output like:

|  A   |
|  BB  |
| CCC  |
| DDDD |

Parameters:

numberOfChars - the total minimum number of characters of the resulting string.

Returns:

the String centered with padded characters around it

Since:

1.0

See:

String#center(Number, String).

contains

public boolean contains(String text)

 

Provide an implementation of contains() like Collection#contains to make Strings more polymorphic. This method is not required on JDK 1.5 onwards

Parameters:

text - a String to look for.

Returns:

true if this string contains the given text

Since:

1.0

count

public int count(String text)

 

Count the number of occurrences of a substring.

Parameters:

text - a substring.

Returns:

the number of occurrences of the given string inside this String

Since:

1.0

decodeBase64

public byte[] decodeBase64()

 

Decode the String from Base64 into a byte array.

Returns:

the decoded bytes as an array

Since:

1.0

decodeHex

public byte[] decodeHex()

 

Decodes a hex string to a byte array. The hex string can contain either upper case or lower case letters.

Returns:

decoded byte array

denormalize

public String denormalize()

 

Return a String with lines (separated by LF, CR/LF, or CR) terminated by the platform specific line separator.

Returns:

the denormalized string

Since:

1.6.0

eachLine

public Object eachLine(Closure closure)

 

Iterates through this String line by line. Each line is passed to the given 1 or 2 arg closure. If a 2 arg closure is found the line count is passed as the second argument.

Parameters:

closure - a closure.

Returns:

the last value returned by the closure

Since:

1.5.5

See:

String#eachLine.

eachLine

public Object eachLine(int firstLine, Closure closure)

 

Iterates through this String line by line. Each line is passed to the given 1 or 2 arg closure. If a 2 arg closure is found the line count is passed as the second argument.

Parameters:

firstLine - the line number value used for the first line (default is 1, set to 0 to start counting from 0).

closure - a closure (arg 1 is line, optional arg 2 is line number).

Returns:

the last value returned by the closure

Since:

1.5.7

eachMatch

public String eachMatch(String regex, Closure closure)

 

Process each regex group matched substring of the given string. If the closure parameter takes one argument, an array with all match groups is passed to it. If the closure takes as many arguments as there are match groups, then each parameter will be one match group.

Parameters:

regex - a Regex string.

closure - a closure with one parameter or as much parameters as groups.

Returns:

the source string

Since:

1.6.0

eachMatch

public String eachMatch(Pattern pattern, Closure closure)

 

Process each regex group matched substring of the given pattern. If the closure parameter takes one argument, an array with all match groups is passed to it. If the closure takes as many arguments as there are match groups, then each parameter will be one match group.

Parameters:

pattern - a regex Pattern.

closure - a closure with one parameter or as much parameters as groups.

Returns:

the source string

Since:

1.6.1

execute

public Process execute()

 

Executes the command specified by self as a command-line process.

For more control over Process construction you can use java.lang.ProcessBuilder (JDK 1.5+).

Returns:

the Process which has just started for this command line representation

Since:

1.0

execute

public Process execute(String[] envp, File dir)

 

Executes the command specified by self with environment defined by envp and under the working directory dir.

For more control over Process construction you can use java.lang.ProcessBuilder (JDK 1.5+).

Parameters:

envp - an array of Strings, each element of which has environment variable settings in the format name=value, or null if the subprocess should inherit the environment of the current process..

dir - the working directory of the subprocess, or null if the subprocess should inherit the working directory of the current process..

Returns:

the Process which has just started for this command line representation.

Since:

1.0

execute

public Process execute(List envp, File dir)

 

Executes the command specified by self with environment defined by envp and under the working directory dir.

For more control over Process construction you can use java.lang.ProcessBuilder (JDK 1.5+).

Parameters:

envp - a List of Objects (converted to Strings using toString), each member of which has environment variable settings in the format name=value, or null if the subprocess should inherit the environment of the current process..

dir - the working directory of the subprocess, or null if the subprocess should inherit the working directory of the current process..

Returns:

the Process which has just started for this command line representation.

Since:

1.0

expand

public String expand()

 

Expands all tabs into spaces with tabStops of size 8.

Returns:

The expanded String

Since:

1.7.3

See:

String#expand.

expand

public String expand(int tabStop)

 

Expands all tabs into spaces. If the String has multiple lines, expand each line - restarting tab stops at the start of each line.

Parameters:

tabStop - The number of spaces a tab represents.

Returns:

The expanded String

Since:

1.7.3

expandLine

public String expandLine(int tabStop)

 

Expands all tabs into spaces. Assumes the String represents a single line of text.

Parameters:

tabStop - The number of spaces a tab represents.

Returns:

The expanded String

Since:

1.7.3

find

public String find(String regex)

 

Finds the first occurrence of a regular expression String within a String. If the regex doesn't match, null will be returned.

For example, if the regex doesn't match the result is null:

    assert null == "New York, NY".find(/\d{5}/)

If it does match, we get the matching string back:

     assert "10292" == "New York, NY 10292-0098".find(/\d{5}/)

If we have capture groups in our expression, we still get back the full match

     assert "10292-0098" == "New York, NY 10292-0098".find(/(\d{5})-?(\d{4})/)

Parameters:

regex - the capturing regex.

Returns:

a String containing the matched portion, or null if the regex doesn't match

Since:

1.6.1

find

public String find(Pattern pattern)

 

Finds the first occurrence of a compiled regular expression Pattern within a String. If the pattern doesn't match, null will be returned.

For example, if the pattern doesn't match the result is null:

    assert null == "New York, NY".find(~/\d{5}/)

If it does match, we get the matching string back:

     assert "10292" == "New York, NY 10292-0098".find(~/\d{5}/)

If we have capture groups in our expression, the groups are ignored and we get back the full match:

     assert "10292-0098" == "New York, NY 10292-0098".find(~/(\d{5})-?(\d{4})/)

If you need to work with capture groups, then use the closure version of this method or use Groovy's matcher operators or use eachMatch.

Parameters:

pattern - the compiled regex Pattern.

Returns:

a String containing the matched portion, or null if the regex pattern doesn't match

Since:

1.6.1

find

public String find(String regex, Closure closure)

 

Returns the result of calling a closure with the first occurrence of a regular expression found within a String. If the regex doesn't match, the closure will not be called and find will return null.

For example, if the regex doesn't match, the result is null:

    assert null == "New York, NY".find(~/\d{5}/) { match -> return "-$match-"}

If it does match and we don't have any capture groups in our regex, there is a single parameter on the closure that the match gets passed to:

     assert "-10292-" == "New York, NY 10292-0098".find(~/\d{5}/) { match -> return "-$match-"}

If we have capture groups in our expression, our closure has one parameter for the match, followed by one for each of the capture groups:

     assert "10292" == "New York, NY 10292-0098".find(~/(\d{5})-?(\d{4})/) { match, zip, plusFour ->
         assert match == "10292-0098"
         assert zip == "10292"
         assert plusFour == "0098"
         return zip
     }

If we have capture groups in our expression, and our closure has one parameter, the closure will be passed an array with the first element corresponding to the whole match, followed by an element for each of the capture groups:

     assert "10292" == "New York, NY 10292-0098".find(~/(\d{5})-?(\d{4})/) { match, zip, plusFour ->
         assert array[0] == "10292-0098"
         assert array[1] == "10292"
         assert array[2] == "0098"
         return array[1]
     }

If a capture group is optional, and doesn't match, then the corresponding value for that capture group passed to the closure will be null as illustrated here:

     assert "2339999" == "adsf 233-9999 adsf".find(~/(\d{3})?-?(\d{3})-(\d{4})/) { match, areaCode, exchange, stationNumber ->
         assert "233-9999" == match
         assert null == areaCode
         assert "233" == exchange
         assert "9999" == stationNumber
         return "$exchange$stationNumber"
     }

Parameters:

regex - the capturing regex string.

closure - the closure that will be passed the full match, plus each of the capturing groups.

Returns:

a String containing the result of the closure, or null if the regex pattern doesn't match

Since:

1.6.1

find

public String find(Pattern pattern, Closure closure)

 

Returns the result of calling a closure with the first occurrence of a compiled regular expression found within a String. If the regex doesn't match, the closure will not be called and find will return null.

For example, if the pattern doesn't match, the result is null:

    assert null == "New York, NY".find(~/\d{5}/) { match -> return "-$match-"}

If it does match and we don't have any capture groups in our regex, there is a single parameter on the closure that the match gets passed to:

     assert "-10292-" == "New York, NY 10292-0098".find(~/\d{5}/) { match -> return "-$match-"}

If we have capture groups in our expression, our closure has one parameter for the match, followed by one for each of the capture groups:

     assert "10292" == "New York, NY 10292-0098".find(~/(\d{5})-?(\d{4})/) { match, zip, plusFour ->
         assert match == "10292-0098"
         assert zip == "10292"
         assert plusFour == "0098"
         return zip
     }

If we have capture groups in our expression, and our closure has one parameter, the closure will be passed an array with the first element corresponding to the whole match, followed by an element for each of the capture groups:

     assert "10292" == "New York, NY 10292-0098".find(~/(\d{5})-?(\d{4})/) { match, zip, plusFour ->
         assert array[0] == "10292-0098"
         assert array[1] == "10292"
         assert array[2] == "0098"
         return array[1]
     }

If a capture group is optional, and doesn't match, then the corresponding value for that capture group passed to the closure will be null as illustrated here:

     assert "2339999" == "adsf 233-9999 adsf".find(~/(\d{3})?-?(\d{3})-(\d{4})/) { match, areaCode, exchange, stationNumber ->
         assert "233-9999" == match
         assert null == areaCode
         assert "233" == exchange
         assert "9999" == stationNumber
         return "$exchange$stationNumber"
     }

Parameters:

pattern - the compiled regex Pattern.

closure - the closure that will be passed the full match, plus each of the capturing groups.

Returns:

a String containing the result of the closure, or null if the regex pattern doesn't match

Since:

1.6.1

findAll

public List findAll(String regex)

 

Returns a (possibly empty) list of all occurrences of a regular expression (in String format) found within a String.

For example, if the regex doesn't match, it returns an empty list:

assert [] == "foo".findAll(/(\w*) Fish/)

Any regular expression matches are returned in a list, and all regex capture groupings are ignored, only the full match is returned:

def expected = ["One Fish", "Two Fish", "Red Fish", "Blue Fish"]
assert expected == "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish".findAll(/(\w*) Fish/)

If you need to work with capture groups, then use the closure version of this method or use Groovy's matcher operators or use eachMatch.

Parameters:

regex - the capturing regex String.

Returns:

a List containing all full matches of the regex within the string, an empty list will be returned if there are no matches

Since:

1.6.1

findAll

public List findAll(Pattern pattern)

 

Returns a (possibly empty) list of all occurrences of a regular expression (in Pattern format) found within a String.

For example, if the pattern doesn't match, it returns an empty list:

assert [] == "foo".findAll(~/(\w*) Fish/)

Any regular expression matches are returned in a list, and all regex capture groupings are ignored, only the full match is returned:

def expected = ["One Fish", "Two Fish", "Red Fish", "Blue Fish"]
assert expected == "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish".findAll(~/(\w*) Fish/)

Parameters:

pattern - the compiled regex Pattern.

Returns:

a List containing all full matches of the Pattern within the string, an empty list will be returned if there are no matches

Since:

1.6.1

findAll

public List findAll(String regex, Closure closure)

 

Finds all occurrences of a regular expression string within a String. Any matches are passed to the specified closure. The closure is expected to have the full match in the first parameter. If there are any capture groups, they will be placed in subsequent parameters.

If there are no matches, the closure will not be called, and an empty List will be returned.

For example, if the regex doesn't match, it returns an empty list:

assert [] == "foo".findAll(/(\w*) Fish/) { match, firstWord -> return firstWord }

Any regular expression matches are passed to the closure, if there are no capture groups, there will be one parameter for the match:

assert ["couldn't", "wouldn't"] == "I could not, would not, with a fox.".findAll(/.ould/) { match -> "${match}n't"}

If there are capture groups, the first parameter will be the match followed by one parameter for each capture group:

def orig = "There's a Wocket in my Pocket"
assert ["W > Wocket", "P > Pocket"] == orig.findAll(/(.)ocket/) { match, firstLetter -> "$firstLetter > $match" }

Parameters:

regex - the capturing regex String.

closure - will be passed the full match plus each of the capturing groups.

Returns:

a List containing all full matches of the regex within the string, an empty list will be returned if there are no matches

Since:

1.6.1

findAll

public List findAll(Pattern pattern, Closure closure)

 

Finds all occurrences of a compiled regular expression Pattern within a String. Any matches are passed to the specified closure. The closure is expected to have the full match in the first parameter. If there are any capture groups, they will be placed in subsequent parameters.

If there are no matches, the closure will not be called, and an empty List will be returned.

For example, if the pattern doesn't match, it returns an empty list:

assert [] == "foo".findAll(~/(\w*) Fish/) { match, firstWord -> return firstWord }

Any regular expression matches are passed to the closure, if there are no capture groups, there will be one parameter for the match:

assert ["couldn't", "wouldn't"] == "I could not, would not, with a fox.".findAll(~/.ould/) { match -> "${match}n't"}

If there are capture groups, the first parameter will be the match followed by one parameter for each capture group:

def orig = "There's a Wocket in my Pocket"
assert ["W > Wocket", "P > Pocket"] == orig.findAll(~/(.)ocket/) { match, firstLetter -> "$firstLetter > $match" }

Parameters:

pattern - the compiled regex Pattern.

closure - will be passed the full match plus each of the capturing groups.

Returns:

a List containing all full matches of the regex Pattern within the string, an empty list will be returned if there are no matches

Since:

1.6.1

getAt

public String getAt(int index)

 

Support the subscript operator for String.

Parameters:

index - the index of the Character to get.

Returns:

the Character at the given index

Since:

1.0

getAt

public String getAt(IntRange range)

 

Support the range subscript operator for String with IntRange

Parameters:

range - an IntRange.

Returns:

the resulting String

Since:

1.0

getAt

public String getAt(EmptyRange range)

 

Support the range subscript operator for String with EmptyRange

Parameters:

range - an EmptyRange.

Returns:

the resulting String

Since:

1.5.0

getAt

public String getAt(Range range)

 

Support the range subscript operator for String

Parameters:

range - a Range.

Returns:

a substring corresponding to the Range

Since:

1.0

getAt

public String getAt(Collection indices)

 

Select a List of characters from a String using a Collection to identify the indices to be selected.

Parameters:

indices - a Collection of indices.

Returns:

a String consisting of the characters at the given indices

Since:

1.0

getChars

public char[] getChars()

 

Converts the given String into an array of characters. Alias for toCharArray.

Returns:

an array of characters

Since:

1.6.0

See:

String#toCharArray.

isAllWhitespace

public boolean isAllWhitespace()

 

True if a String only contains whitespace characters.

Returns:

true If all characters are whitespace characters

Since:

1.6

See:

Character#isWhitespace(char).

isBigDecimal

public boolean isBigDecimal()

 

Determine if a String can be parsed into a BigDecimal.

Returns:

true if the string can be parsed

Since:

1.5.0

isBigInteger

public boolean isBigInteger()

 

Determine if a String can be parsed into a BigInteger.

Returns:

true if the string can be parsed

Since:

1.5.0

isCase

public boolean isCase(Object switchValue)

 

'Case' implementation for a String, which uses String#equals(Object) in order to allow Strings to be used in switch statements. For example:

switch( str ) {
  case 'one' :
  // etc...
}

Note that this returns true for the case where both the 'switch' and 'case' operand is null.

Parameters:

switchValue - the switch value.

Returns:

true if the switchValue's toString() equals the caseValue

Since:

1.0

isDouble

public boolean isDouble()

 

Determine if a String can be parsed into a Double.

Returns:

true if the string can be parsed

Since:

1.5.0

isFloat

public boolean isFloat()

 

Determine if a String can be parsed into a Float.

Returns:

true if the string can be parsed

Since:

1.5.0

isInteger

public boolean isInteger()

 

Determine if a String can be parsed into an Integer.

Returns:

true if the string can be parsed

Since:

1.5.0

isLong

public boolean isLong()

 

Determine if a String can be parsed into a Long.

Returns:

true if the string can be parsed

Since:

1.5.0

isNumber

public boolean isNumber()

 

Determine if a String can be parsed into a Number. Synonym for 'isBigDecimal()'.

Returns:

true if the string can be parsed

Since:

1.5.0

See:

String#isBigDecimal.

leftShift

public StringBuffer leftShift(Object value)

 

Overloads the left shift operator to provide an easy way to append multiple objects as string representations to a String.

Parameters:

value - an Object.

Returns:

a StringBuffer built from this string

Since:

1.0

matches

public boolean matches(Pattern pattern)

 

Tells whether or not self matches the given compiled regular expression Pattern.

Parameters:

pattern - the regex Pattern to which the string of interest is to be matched.

Returns:

true if the string matches

Since:

1.6.1

See:

String#matches.

minus

public String minus(Object target)

 

Remove a part of a String. This replaces the first occurrence of target within self with '' and returns the result. If target is a regex Pattern, the first occurrence of that pattern will be removed (using regex matching), otherwise the first occurrence of target.toString() will be removed.

Parameters:

target - an object representing the part to remove.

Returns:

a String minus the part to be removed

Since:

1.0

multiply

public String multiply(Number factor)

 

Repeat a String a certain number of times.

Parameters:

factor - the number of times the String should be repeated.

Returns:

a String composed of a repetition

Since:

1.0

next

public String next()

 

This method is called by the ++ operator for the class String. It increments the last character in the given string. If the character in the string is Character.MAX_VALUE a Character.MIN_VALUE will be appended. The empty string is incremented to a string consisting of the character Character.MIN_VALUE.

Returns:

an incremented String

Since:

1.0

normalize

public String normalize()

 

Return a String with linefeeds and carriage returns normalized to linefeeds.

Returns:

the normalized string

Since:

1.6.0

padLeft

public String padLeft(Number numberOfChars, String padding)

 

Pad a String to a minimum length specified by numberOfChars, adding the supplied padding String as many times as needed to the left. If the String is already the same size or bigger than the target numberOfChars, then the original String is returned. An example:

println 'Numbers:'
[1, 10, 100, 1000].each{ println it.toString().padLeft(5, '*') }
[2, 20, 200, 2000].each{ println it.toString().padLeft(5, '*_') }

will produce output like:

Numbers:
****1
***10
**100
*1000
*_*_2
*_*20
*_200
*2000

Parameters:

numberOfChars - the total minimum number of characters of the resulting string.

padding - the characters used for padding.

Returns:

the String padded to the left

Since:

1.0

padLeft

public String padLeft(Number numberOfChars)

 

Pad a String to a minimum length specified by numberOfChars by adding the space character to the left as many times as needed. If the String is already the same size or bigger than the target numberOfChars, then the original String is returned. An example:

println 'Numbers:'
[1, 10, 100, 1000].each{ println it.toString().padLeft(5) }

will produce output like:

Numbers:
    1
   10
  100
 1000

Parameters:

numberOfChars - the total minimum number of characters of the resulting string.

Returns:

the String padded to the left

Since:

1.0

See:

String#padLeft(Number, String).

padRight

public String padRight(Number numberOfChars, String padding)

 

Pad a String to a minimum length specified by numberOfChars, adding the supplied padding String as many times as needed to the right. If the String is already the same size or bigger than the target numberOfChars, then the original String is returned. An example:

['A', 'BB', 'CCC', 'DDDD'].each{ println it.padRight(5, '#') + it.size() }

will produce output like:

A####1
BB###2
CCC##3
DDDD#4

Parameters:

numberOfChars - the total minimum number of characters of the resulting string.

padding - the characters used for padding.

Returns:

the String padded to the right

Since:

1.0

padRight

public String padRight(Number numberOfChars)

 

Pad a String to a minimum length specified by numberOfChars by adding the space character to the right as many times as needed. If the String is already the same size or bigger than the target numberOfChars, then the original String is returned. An example:

['A', 'BB', 'CCC', 'DDDD'].each{ println it.padRight(5) + it.size() }

will produce output like:

A    1
BB   2
CCC  3
DDDD 4

Parameters:

numberOfChars - the total minimum number of characters of the resulting string.

Returns:

the String padded to the right

Since:

1.0

plus

public String plus(Object value)

 

Appends the String representation of the given operand to this string.

Parameters:

value - any Object.

Returns:

the new string with the object appended

Since:

1.0

previous

public String previous()

 

This method is called by the -- operator for the class String. It decrements the last character in the given string. If the character in the string is Character.MIN_VALUE it will be deleted. The empty string can't be decremented.

Returns:

a String with a decremented digit at the end

Since:

1.0

readLines

public List readLines()

 

Return the lines of a String as a List of Strings.

Returns:

a list of lines

Since:

1.5.5

replaceAll

public String replaceAll(Pattern pattern, String replacement)

 

Replaces all substrings of a String that match the given compiled regular expression with the given replacement.

Note that backslashes (\) and dollar signs ($) in the replacement string may cause the results to be different than if it were being treated as a literal replacement string; see Matcher#replaceAll. Use Matcher#quoteReplacement to suppress the special meaning of these characters, if desired.

assert "foo".replaceAll('o', 'X') == 'fXX'

Parameters:

pattern - the regex Pattern to which the string of interest is to be matched.

replacement - the string to be substituted for the first match.

Returns:

The resulting String

Since:

1.6.1

See:

String#replaceAll.

replaceAll

public String replaceAll(String regex, Closure closure)

 

Replaces all occurrences of a captured group by the result of a closure on that text.

For examples,

    assert "hellO wOrld" == "hello world".replaceAll("(o)") { it[0].toUpperCase() }

    assert "FOOBAR-FOOBAR-" == "foobar-FooBar-".replaceAll("(([fF][oO]{2})[bB]ar)", { Object[] it -> it[0].toUpperCase() })

    Here,
         it[0] is the global string of the matched group
         it[1] is the first string in the matched group
         it[2] is the second string in the matched group


    assert "FOO-FOO-" == "foobar-FooBar-".replaceAll("(([fF][oO]{2})[bB]ar)", { x, y, z -> z.toUpperCase() })

    Here,
         x is the global string of the matched group
         y is the first string in the matched group
         z is the second string in the matched group

Note that unlike String.replaceAll(String regex, String replacement), where the replacement string treats '$' and '\' specially (for group substitution), the result of the closure is converted to a string and that value is used literally for the replacement.

Parameters:

regex - the capturing regex.

closure - the closure to apply on each captured group.

Returns:

a String with replaced content

Since:

1.0

See:

Matcher#quoteReplacement.

String#replaceAll(Pattern, Closure).

replaceAll

public String replaceAll(Pattern pattern, Closure closure)

 

Replaces all occurrences of a captured group by the result of a closure call on that text.

For examples,

    assert "hellO wOrld" == "hello world".replaceAll(~"(o)") { it[0].toUpperCase() }

    assert "FOOBAR-FOOBAR-" == "foobar-FooBar-".replaceAll(~"(([fF][oO]{2})[bB]ar)", { it[0].toUpperCase() })

    Here,
         it[0] is the global string of the matched group
         it[1] is the first string in the matched group
         it[2] is the second string in the matched group


    assert "FOOBAR-FOOBAR-" == "foobar-FooBar-".replaceAll(~"(([fF][oO]{2})[bB]ar)", { Object[] it -> it[0].toUpperCase() })

    Here,
         it[0] is the global string of the matched group
         it[1] is the first string in the matched group
         it[2] is the second string in the matched group


    assert "FOO-FOO-" == "foobar-FooBar-".replaceAll("(([fF][oO]{2})[bB]ar)", { x, y, z -> z.toUpperCase() })

    Here,
         x is the global string of the matched group
         y is the first string in the matched group
         z is the second string in the matched group

Note that unlike String.replaceAll(String regex, String replacement), where the replacement string treats '$' and '\' specially (for group substitution), the result of the closure is converted to a string and that value is used literally for the replacement.

Parameters:

pattern - the capturing regex Pattern.

closure - the closure to apply on each captured group.

Returns:

a String with replaced content

Since:

1.6.8

See:

Matcher#quoteReplacement.

replaceFirst

public String replaceFirst(Pattern pattern, String replacement)

 

Replaces the first substring of a String that matches the given compiled regular expression with the given replacement.

Note that backslashes (\) and dollar signs ($) in the replacement string may cause the results to be different than if it were being treated as a literal replacement string; see Matcher#replaceFirst. Use Matcher#quoteReplacement to suppress the special meaning of these characters, if desired.

assert "foo".replaceFirst('o', 'X') == 'fXo'

Parameters:

pattern - the regex Pattern to which the string of interest is to be matched.

replacement - the string to be substituted for the first match.

Returns:

The resulting String

Since:

1.6.1

See:

String#replaceFirst.

replaceFirst

public String replaceFirst(String regex, Closure closure)

 

Replaces the first occurrence of a captured group by the result of a closure call on that text.

For example (with some replaceAll variants thrown in for comparison purposes),

assert "hellO world" == "hello world".replaceFirst("(o)") { it[0].toUpperCase() } // first match
assert "hellO wOrld" == "hello world".replaceAll("(o)") { it[0].toUpperCase() }   // all matches

assert '1-FISH, two fish' == "one fish, two fish".replaceFirst(/([a-z]{3})\s([a-z]{4})/) { [one:1, two:2][it[1]] + '-' + it[2].toUpperCase() }
assert '1-FISH, 2-FISH' == "one fish, two fish".replaceAll(/([a-z]{3})\s([a-z]{4})/) { [one:1, two:2][it[1]] + '-' + it[2].toUpperCase() }

Parameters:

regex - the capturing regex.

closure - the closure to apply on the first captured group.

Returns:

a String with replaced content

Since:

1.7.7

See:

Matcher#quoteReplacement.

String#replaceFirst(Pattern, Closure).

replaceFirst

public String replaceFirst(Pattern pattern, Closure closure)

 

Replaces the first occurrence of a captured group by the result of a closure call on that text.

For example (with some replaceAll variants thrown in for comparison purposes),

assert "hellO world" == "hello world".replaceFirst(~"(o)") { it[0].toUpperCase() } // first match
assert "hellO wOrld" == "hello world".replaceAll(~"(o)") { it[0].toUpperCase() }   // all matches

assert '1-FISH, two fish' == "one fish, two fish".replaceFirst(~/([a-z]{3})\s([a-z]{4})/) { [one:1, two:2][it[1]] + '-' + it[2].toUpperCase() }
assert '1-FISH, 2-FISH' == "one fish, two fish".replaceAll(~/([a-z]{3})\s([a-z]{4})/) { [one:1, two:2][it[1]] + '-' + it[2].toUpperCase() }

Parameters:

pattern - the capturing regex Pattern.

closure - the closure to apply on the first captured group.

Returns:

a String with replaced content

Since:

1.7.7

See:

String#replaceAll(Pattern, Closure).

reverse

public String reverse()

 

Creates a new string which is the reverse (backwards) of this string

Returns:

a new string with all the characters reversed.

Since:

1.0

See:

StringBuilder#reverse.

size

public int size()

 

Provide the standard Groovy size() method for String.

Returns:

the length of the String

Since:

1.0

split

public String[] split()

 

Convenience method to split a string (with whitespace as delimiter) Like tokenize, but returns an Array of Strings instead of a List

Returns:

String[] result of split

Since:

1.5.0

splitEachLine

public Object splitEachLine(String regex, Closure closure)

 

Iterates through the given String line by line, splitting each line using the given separator. The list of tokens for each line is then passed to the given closure.

Parameters:

regex - the delimiting regular expression.

closure - a closure.

Returns:

the last value returned by the closure

Since:

1.5.5

See:

String#split.

splitEachLine

public Object splitEachLine(Pattern pattern, Closure closure)

 

Iterates through the given String line by line, splitting each line using the given separator Pattern. The list of tokens for each line is then passed to the given closure.

Parameters:

pattern - the regular expression Pattern for the delimiter.

closure - a closure.

Returns:

the last value returned by the closure

Since:

1.6.8

See:

Pattern#split.

stripIndent

public String stripIndent()

 

Strip leading spaces from every line in a String. The line with the least number of leading spaces determines the number to remove. Lines only containing whitespace are ignored when calculating the number of leading spaces to strip.

assert '  A\n B\nC' == '   A\n  B\n C'.stripIndent()

Returns:

the stripped String

Since:

1.7.3

See:

String#stripIndent(int).

stripIndent

public String stripIndent(int numChars)

 

Strip numChar leading characters from every line in a String.

assert 'DEF\n456' == '''ABCDEF\n123456'''.stripIndent(3)

Parameters:

numChars - The number of characters to strip.

Returns:

the stripped String

Since:

1.7.3

stripMargin

public String stripMargin()

 

Strip leading whitespace/control characters followed by '|' from every line in a String.

assert 'ABC\n123\n456' == '''ABC
                            |123
                            |456'''.stripMargin()

Returns:

the stripped String

Since:

1.7.3

See:

String#stripMargin(char).

stripMargin

public String stripMargin(String marginChar)

 

Strip leading whitespace/control characters followed by marginChar from every line in a String.

Parameters:

marginChar - Any character that serves as margin delimiter.

Returns:

the stripped String

Since:

1.7.3

See:

String#stripMargin(char).

stripMargin

public String stripMargin(char marginChar)

 

Strip leading whitespace/control characters followed by marginChar from every line in a String.

assert 'ABC\n123\n456' == '''ABC
                            *123
                            *456'''.stripMargin('*')

Parameters:

marginChar - Any character that serves as margin delimiter.

Returns:

the stripped String

Since:

1.7.3

toBigDecimal

public BigDecimal toBigDecimal()

 

Parse a String into a BigDecimal

Returns:

a BigDecimal

Since:

1.0

toBigInteger

public BigInteger toBigInteger()

 

Parse a String into a BigInteger

Returns:

a BigInteger

Since:

1.0

toBoolean

public Boolean toBoolean()

 

Converts the given string into a Boolean object. If the trimmed string is "true", "y" or "1" (ignoring case) then the result is true otherwise it is false.

Returns:

The Boolean value

Since:

1.0

toCharacter

public Character toCharacter()

 

Converts the given string into a Character object using the first character in the string.

Returns:

the first Character

Since:

1.0

toDouble

public Double toDouble()

 

Parse a String into a Double

Returns:

a Double

Since:

1.0

toFloat

public Float toFloat()

 

Parse a String into a Float

Returns:

a Float

Since:

1.0

toInteger

public Integer toInteger()

 

Parse a String into an Integer

Returns:

an Integer

Since:

1.0

toList

public List toList()

 

Converts the given String into a List of strings of one character.

Returns:

a List of characters (a 1-character String)

Since:

1.0

toLong

public Long toLong()

 

Parse a String into a Long

Returns:

a Long

Since:

1.0

toSet

public Set toSet()

 

Converts the given String into a Set of unique strings of one character.

Example usage:

assert 'groovy'.toSet() == ['v', 'g', 'r', 'o', 'y'] as Set
assert "abc".toSet().iterator()[0] instanceof String

Returns:

a Set of unique character Strings (each a 1-character String)

Since:

1.8.0

toShort

public Short toShort()

 

Parse a String into a Short

Returns:

a Short

Since:

1.5.7

toURI

public URI toURI()

 

Transforms a String representing a URI into a URI object.

Returns:

a URI

Since:

1.0

toURL

public URL toURL()

 

Transforms a String representing a URL into a URL object.

Returns:

a URL

Since:

1.0

tokenize

public List tokenize(String token)

 

Tokenize a String based on the given string delimiter.

Parameters:

token - the delimiter.

Returns:

a List of tokens

Since:

1.0

See:

StringTokenizer#StringTokenizer.

tokenize

public List tokenize(Character token)

 

Tokenize a String based on the given character delimiter. For example:

char pathSep = ':'
assert "/tmp:/usr".tokenize(pathSep) == ["/tmp", "/usr"]

Parameters:

token - the delimiter.

Returns:

a List of tokens

Since:

1.7.2

See:

StringTokenizer#StringTokenizer.

tokenize

public List tokenize()

 

Tokenize a String (with a whitespace as the delimiter).

Returns:

a List of tokens

Since:

1.0

See:

StringTokenizer#StringTokenizer.

tr

public String tr(String sourceSet, String replacementSet)

 

Translates a string by replacing characters from the sourceSet with characters from replacementSet. If the first character from sourceSet appears in the string, it will be replaced with the first character from replacementSet. If the second character from sourceSet appears in the string, it will be replaced with the second character from replacementSet. and so on for all provided replacement characters.

Here is an example which converts the vowels in a word from lower to uppercase:

assert 'hello'.tr('aeiou', 'AEIOU') == 'hEllO'

A character range using regex-style syntax can also be used, e.g. here is an example which converts a word from lower to uppercase:

assert 'hello'.tr('a-z', 'A-Z') == 'HELLO'

Hyphens at the start or end of sourceSet or replacementSet are treated as normal hyphens and are not considered to be part of a range specification. Similarly, a hyphen immediately after an earlier range is treated as a normal hyphen. So, '-x', 'x-' have no ranges while 'a-c-e' has the range 'a-c' plus the '-' character plus the 'e' character.

Unlike the unix tr command, Groovy's tr command supports reverse ranges, e.g.:

assert 'hello'.tr('z-a', 'Z-A') == 'HELLO'

If replacementSet is smaller than sourceSet, then the last character from replacementSet is used as the replacement for all remaining source characters as shown here:

assert 'Hello World!'.tr('a-z', 'A') == 'HAAAA WAAAA!'

If sourceSet contains repeated characters, the last specified replacement is used as shown here:

assert 'Hello World!'.tr('lloo', '1234') == 'He224 W4r2d!'

The functionality provided by tr can be achieved using regular expressions but tr provides a much more compact notation and efficient implementation for certain scenarios.

Parameters:

sourceSet - the set of characters to translate from.

replacementSet - the set of replacement characters.

Returns:

The resulting translated String

Since:

1.7.3

See:

StringUtil#tr.

unexpand

public String unexpand()

 

Replaces sequences of whitespaces with tabs using tabStops of size 8.

Returns:

The unexpanded String

Since:

1.7.3

See:

String#unexpand.

unexpand

public String unexpand(int tabStop)

 

Replaces sequences of whitespaces with tabs.

Parameters:

tabStop - The number of spaces a tab represents.

Returns:

The unexpanded String

Since:

1.7.3

unexpandLine

public String unexpandLine(int tabStop)

 

Replaces sequences of whitespaces with tabs within a line.

Parameters:

tabStop - The number of spaces a tab represents.

Returns:

The unexpanded String

Since:

1.7.3