Unspace (String function)
This intrinsic function removes the whitespace characters from the method object string and it returns the resulting string. Options are available to:
- Define which character or characters are to be interpreted as whitespace
- Remove leading whitespace, trailing whitespace, both or neither
- Collapse to a single whitespace character any sequences of non-leading, non-trailing whitespace
The Unspace function is available as of version 7.3 of the Sirius Mods.
Unspace syntax
%outStr = string:Unspace( [Spaces=chars] [, Leading=bool] [, Trailing=bool] [, Compress=bool] )
Syntax Terms
- %outStr
- A variable to receive the string result of the Unspace method.
- string
- The input string or Longstring.
- Spaces=chars
- The optional Spaces argument (name required) is a string that specifies the set of characters considered to be whitespace. The default set is the blank character.
If you specify multiple Spaces characters:
- There is no separator character.
- The first character of the string is the replacement space character: a single one of these is substituted for each sequence (which may be one) of non-leading, non-trailing Spaces characters in the method object string.
- Leading=bool
- The optional Leading argument (name required) is a Boolean value that specifies whether to strip all leading whitespace characters. The default is 'True', strip leading whitespace.
- Trailing=bool
- The optional Trailing argument (name required) is a Boolean value that specifies whether to strip all trailing whitespace characters. The default is 'True', strip trailing whitespace.
- Compress=bool
- The optional Compress argument (name required) is a Boolean value that specifies whether to collapse non-leading, non-trailing sequences of spaces to single spaces. The default is 'True', collapse such sequences.
Usage Notes
- Duplicate Spaces characters are tolerated and do not affect the result.
- Prior to Version 7.8 of the Sirius Mods, Unspace compressed a string consisting entirely of whitespace characters to a single whitespace character. As of version 7.8 (and also in version 7.7 maintenance), Unspace converts a string of whitespace characters to a null string.
Examples
The following are example Unspace statements:
%ls is longstring
%ls = ' so me chars '
PrintText {~} = {%ls:unspace()}
PrintText {~} = {%ls:unspace(Spaces='X ')}
PrintText {~} = {%ls:unspace(leading=false)}
PrintText {~} = {%ls:unspace(trailing=false)}
PrintText {~} = {%ls:unspace(compress=false)}
The results are respectively:
%ls:unspace() = so me chars %ls:unspace(Spaces='X ') = soXmeXchars %ls:unspace(leading=false) = so me chars %ls:unspace(trailing=false) = so me chars %ls:unspace(compress=false) = so me chars