UnicodePositionIn and UnicodePositionOf (Unicode functions)

The position of one string inside another (Unicode class)

The UnicodePositionIn and UnicodePositionOf functions return the numeric position of the first occurrence of one character string inside another (character case respected). The difference between the two methods is that for UnicodePositionIn, the method object string is located in the first argument string, whereas for UnicodePositionOf, the first argument string is located in the method object string. Which method is more convenient to use will be application dependent.

Syntax

%position = unicode:UnicodePositionIn( haystack, [Start= number])

%position = unicode:UnicodePositionOf( needle, [Start= number])

Syntax terms

%number	A numeric variable to receive one of the following: The position of the first occurrence of the unicode "needle" string target within the haystack string (UnicodePositionIn). The position of the first occurrence of the needle string target within the unicode string "haystack" (UnicodePositionOf). 0, if the "target" is not found.
unicode	The method object Unicode string; either: the search target "needle," when called as UnicodePositionIn the search space "haystack," when called as UnicodePositionOf
haystack	The search space Unicode string within which to look for the unicode method object (the "needle").
needle	The search target Unicode string to be looked for within the unicode method object (the "haystack").
Start	This optional, but NameRequired, argument is a number specifying the position in the "haystack" string at which to start searching for the "needle" string. Start defaults to 1, meaning that the search begins at the first character in the "haystack."

Usage notes

• The Start position must be a positive number. A zero or negative number results in request cancellation. Specifying a Start position greater than the length of the "haystack" plus one, minus the length of needle returns a zero, because there are not enough characters in the "haystack" to satisfy the search criteria.
• UnicodePositionIn and UnicodePositionOf do exactly the same thing, but they swap the roles of the method object and the first argument. Which method is preferable will depend on the application, and, in many cases, it will be quite arbitrary which one is used.
• UnicodePositionIn and UnicodePositionOf are analogous to the PositionIn and PositionOf String methods.
• UnicodePositionIn and UnicodePositionOf are available as of Sirius Mods Version 7.5.

Examples

1. The following fragment contains three calls to UnicodePositionOf:

   %s is unicode initial('This is a test') printText {%s:unicodePositionOf('is')} printText {%s:unicodePositionOf('is', start=4)} printText {%s:unicodePositionOf('is', start=7)}

   The result is:

   3 6 0

2. The following fragment contains three calls to UnicodePositionIn:

   %s is unicode initial('spl') printText {%s:unicodePositionIn('splish splash')} printText {%s:unicodePositionIn('splish splash', start=4)} printText {%s:unicodePositionIn('splish splash', start=9)}

   The result is:

   1 8 0

3. The following sequence, which uses the U function to specify the Unicode trademark character (U+2122), produces a conversion error. The second statement fails when the method attempts to implicitly convert the Unicode needle character to EBCDIC. The Unicode trademark character has no valid translation to EBCDIC.

   %u is unicode initial('Model 204™':U) %posTM = %u:PositionOf('™':U) print %posTM

   However, given %u as defined above, here is an alternative solution that uses other intrinsic methods to return the hex value of the trademark character:

   %pos is float %pos = %u:UnicodeUntranslatablePosition printtext {~} is: - {%u:unicodeChar(%pos):unicodeToUtf16:stringToHex}

   The result is:

   %u:unicodeChar(%pos):unicodeToUtf16:stringToHex is: 2122

See also

Float class String class Unicode class	List of Float methods List of String methods List of Unicode methods List of Intrinsic methods	Float methods syntax String methods syntax Unicode methods syntax
Notation conventions for methods