Text Functions in Expressions

Text functions perform an operation on a string input value and return a string or numeric value.

The following information describes the functions available for building expressions.

Tip:
  • Any information within square brackets [ ] is optional.
  • All indexing is one-based.
  • For more information on formatting strings, see Conversion Functions.

StringLength

Description
Returns the number of characters int32 in a string.
Format
StringLength(string)
Parameters Required? Data Type Description
string Yes String The string to perform the operation on.

LeftSubstring

Description
Returns the first (leftmost) characters from a string.
Format
LeftSubstring(string, nCount)
Parameters Required? Data Type Description
string Yes String The string to perform the operation on.
nCount Yes Numeric Number of characters to retrieve.

RightSubstring

Description
Returns the end (rightmost) character from a string.
Format
RightSubstring(string, nCount)
Parameters Required? Data Type Description
string Yes String The string to perform the operation on.
nCount Yes Numeric Number of characters to retrieve.

Substring

Description
Returns a substring of a specified length starting at the first specified character of a string.
Format
Substring(string, nFirst, nCount)
Parameters Required? Data Type Description
string Yes String The string to perform the operation on.
nFirst Yes Numeric First character of the string to retrieve (one-based index).
nCount Yes Numeric Number of characters to retrieve.

Substitute

Description
Replaces all instances of one substring with another in a specified string, and returns the result as a string.
Format
Substitute(string, oldText, newText [, ignoreCase])
Parameters Required? Data Type Description
string Yes String Original string.
oldText Yes String Substring to be replaced.
newText Yes String Substring that overwrites the original text.
ignoreCase No Boolean True if character case should be ignored when searching the string; otherwise, false.

FindString

Description
Searches a string (from left to right) to find the first occurrence of a given substring. Returns (Int 32) the character location of the first occurrence of the substring in the searched string (one-based index). Returns zero if the substring is not found.
Format
FindString(textToFind, textToSearch, startIndex [, ignoreCase])
Parameters Required? Data Type Description
textToFind Yes String Substring to search for.
textToSearch Yes String String to search.
startIndex Yes Numeric Location where the character search begins (one-based index).
ignoreCase No Boolean True if the character case should be ignored when searching the string; otherwise, false.

ContainsString

Description
Determines whether a substring is present within a specified string, and returns a boolean result.
Format
ContainsString(textToFind, textToSearch [, ignoreCase])
Parameters Required? Data Type Description
textToFind Yes String Substring to search for.
textToSearch Yes String String to search.
ignoreCase No Boolean True if the character case should be ignored when searching the string; otherwise, false.

InsertString

Description
Inserts the given text into a string at a specified position, and returns the result as a string.
Format
InsertString(textToInsert, string, startPosition)
Parameters Required? Data Type Description
textToInsert Yes String String to insert
string Yes String Original string.
startPosition Yes Numeric Location where text is inserted into the original string (one-based index).

RemoveString

Description
Removes a portion of text from a string, and returns the result as a string.
Format
RemoveString(string, startPosition, characterCount)
Parameters Required? Data Type Description
string Yes String Original string.
startPosition Yes Numeric First character of the string to remove (one-based index).
characterCount Yes Numeric Number of characters to remove.

IsStringEqual

Description
Compares the text of two strings to determine if they are equal, and returns a boolean result.
Format
IsStringEqual(stringA, stringB [, ignoreCase])
Parameters Required? Data Type Description
stringA Yes String One of the strings to compare.
stringB Yes String Other string to compare.
ignoreCase No Boolean True if the character case should be ignored when searching the string; otherwise, false is the default.

ApplyMask

Description
Tests a string to determine if it matches a specified pattern, and returns a boolean result. For more information, see Apply Mask Function.
Format
ApplyMask(string, mask)
Parameters Required? Data Type Description
string Yes String Length of string to test.
mask Yes String Mask string to apply.

ToLower

Description
Converts all uppercase letters in a text string to lowercase, and returns the result as a string.
Format
ToLower(string)
Parameters Required? Data Type Description
string Yes String String to convert to lowercase.

ToUpper

Description
Converts all lowercase letters in a text string to uppercase, and returns the result as a string.
Format
ToUpper(string)
Parameters Required? Data Type Description
string Yes String String to convert to uppercase.

TrimWhitespace

Description
Removes all occurrences of white space characters from the beginning and end of a string, and returns the result as a string.
Format
TrimWhitespace(string)
Parameters Required? Data Type Description
string Yes String String that the whitespace is removed from.

Split

Description
Splits a string into an array of strings.
Format
string[ ] Split(stringToSplit [, delimiterString])
Parameters Required? Data Type Description
stringToSplit Yes String String that is converted into an array of strings.
delimiterString No String Specifies the character that separates the sequence. It can be multiple characters.