A StringBuffer is a mutable character string object. You can insert, append, delete, and replace characters in the buffer in place. These operations don't create new objects as they do with ordinary strings, but simply modify the existing StringBuffer object's contents.
The object manages memory automatically. When you first create the object, it allocates an initial buffer to hold its character contents. You can specify the initial buffer size with a constructor argument, or simply let the object pick a default. As you add text to the buffer, the object automatically allocates more memory as needed to accommodate the added text. The maximum size for the string contained in the buffer is about 32000 characters.
Construction: new StringBuffer() creates a buffer with default initial size values. new StringBuffer(length, increment) specifies the initial buffer size in characters ('length'), and the minimum number of characters to add to the buffer each time it's automatically expanded ('increment').
Passing a StringBuffer to an internal function or method that takes a String argument, such as tadsSay(), will automatically convert the object to a string. To explicitly convert a StringBuffer to an ordinary String, use the toString() function. You can also create an ordinary string from a section of the buffer using the substr() method.
intrinsic class
StringBuffer :
Superclass Tree (in declaration order)
StringBuffer
Subclass Tree
(none)
Global Objects
(none)
Summary of Properties
(none)
Summary of Methods
append
charAt
copyChars
deleteChars
insert
length
splice
substr
Properties
(none)
Methods
Append text to the current contents of the buffer. This adds the new text at the end of the current text. The value is automatically converted to a string if possible; this includes numbers and true and nil values.
Retrieve the Unicode character value of the character at the given index. Returns an integer with the Unicode value. If idx is negative, it's an index from the end of the string: -1 is the last character, -2 is the second to last, etc.
Copy text into the buffer, starting at the given index (the first character in the buffer is at index 1). Overwrites any text currently in the buffer at this point.
Delete the given text. This deletes 'len' characters starting at the given index (the first character is at index 1). If the length is omitted, the portion from idx to the end of the string is deleted. A negative idx value indexes from the end of the string.
Insert text into the buffer just before the character at the given index. The first character is at index 1, so to insert the new text before the first current character, insert at index 1. If the index is past the end of the current text, this has the same effect as append(). A negative value indexes from the end of the string. The text is automatically converted to a string if possible.
Get the length in characters of the current text in the buffer.
Splice text. This deletes 'len' characters starting at the given index (the first character is at index 1), and replaces them with the given new text. If the new text is nil, this simply deletes the old characters without inserting anything new. If 'len' is zero, simply inserts the new text without deleting any old text. A negative idx value indexes from the end of the string. The 'str' value is automatically converted to a string if possible.
Retrieve the substring of the buffer starting at the given index and running for the given character length. If the length is omitted, everything from the starting index to the end of the buffer is included in the result string. A negative value for 'idx' indexes from the end of the string.
TADS 3 Library Manual
Generated on 5/16/2013 from TADS version 3.1.3