String Operations

String Operations

Phantom.js provides 28 string operations for manipulation, transformation, and validation.

Table of Contents

• Basic Operations
• Transformation Operations
• Search and Check Operations
• Padding Operations
• Trimming Operations
• Advanced Operations

Basic Operations

find

Check if a string contains a substring.

phantom.strings.operation.find("hello world", "world");
// Output: true

phantom.strings.operation.find("hello world", "xyz");
// Output: false

contains

Alias for find - check if string contains substring.

phantom.strings.operation.contains("hello world", "world");
// Output: true

length

Get the length of a string.

phantom.strings.operation.length("hello");
// Output: 5

isEmpty

Check if string is empty.

phantom.strings.operation.isEmpty("");
// Output: true

phantom.strings.operation.isEmpty("hello");
// Output: false

isBlank

Check if string is empty or only whitespace.

phantom.strings.operation.isBlank("   ");
// Output: true

phantom.strings.operation.isBlank("hello");
// Output: false

Transformation Operations

toUpperCase

Convert string to uppercase.

phantom.strings.operation.toUpperCase("hello");
// Output: "HELLO"

toLowerCase

Convert string to lowercase.

phantom.strings.operation.toLowerCase("HELLO");
// Output: "hello"

capitalize

Capitalize first letter, lowercase the rest.

phantom.strings.operation.capitalize("hello");
// Output: "Hello"

phantom.strings.operation.capitalize("HELLO");
// Output: "Hello"

reverse

Reverse a string.

phantom.strings.operation.reverse("hello");
// Output: "olleh"

Search and Check Operations

startsWith

Check if string starts with prefix.

phantom.strings.operation.startsWith("hello", "he");
// Output: true

endsWith

Check if string ends with suffix.

phantom.strings.operation.endsWith("hello", "lo");
// Output: true

Padding Operations

leftPad

Pad string on the left side.

phantom.strings.operation.leftPad("test", "0", 3);
// Output: "000test"

phantom.strings.operation.leftPad("test", undefined, 3);
// Output: "   test" (defaults to space)

rightPad

Pad string on the right side.

phantom.strings.operation.rightPad("test", "0", 3);
// Output: "test000"

dualPad

Pad string on both sides.

phantom.strings.operation.dualPad("test", "0", 2);
// Output: "00test00"

Trimming Operations

leftTrim

Remove whitespace from the left side.

phantom.strings.operation.leftTrim("  test");
// Output: "test"

rightTrim

Remove whitespace from the right side.

phantom.strings.operation.rightTrim("test  ");
// Output: "test"

trim

Remove whitespace from both sides.

phantom.strings.operation.trim("  test  ");
// Output: "test"

Advanced Operations

replace

Replace first occurrence of a substring.

phantom.strings.operation.replace("hello world", "world", "universe");
// Output: "hello universe"

phantom.strings.operation.replace("hello hello", "hello", "hi");
// Output: "hi hello" (only first occurrence)

replaceAll

Replace all occurrences of a substring.

phantom.strings.operation.replaceAll("hello hello", "hello", "hi");
// Output: "hi hi"

// Handles special regex characters safely
phantom.strings.operation.replaceAll("a.b.c", ".", "-");
// Output: "a-b-c"

split

Split string by delimiter.

phantom.strings.operation.split("a,b,c", ",");
// Output: ["a", "b", "c"]

substring

Extract a substring.

phantom.strings.operation.substring("hello world", 0, 5);
// Output: "hello"

phantom.strings.operation.substring("hello world", 6);
// Output: "world" (from index 6 to end)

splice

Insert/delete characters in a string.

phantom.strings.operation.splice("hello world", 5, 1, "X");
// Output: "helloXworld" (replaces space with X)

phantom.strings.operation.splice("hello", 2, 0, "XX");
// Output: "heXXllo" (inserts without deleting)

compare

Compare two strings lexicographically.

phantom.strings.operation.compare("test", "test");
// Output: 0 (equal)

phantom.strings.operation.compare("zebra", "apple");
// Output: 1 (first > second)

phantom.strings.operation.compare("apple", "zebra");
// Output: -1 (first < second)

join

Join two strings with a delimiter.

phantom.strings.operation.join("hello", "world", " ");
// Output: "hello world"

repeat

Repeat a string N times.

phantom.strings.operation.repeat("a", 3);
// Output: "aaa"

remove

Remove all occurrences of a substring.

phantom.strings.operation.remove("hello world", "l");
// Output: "heo word"

Common Patterns

Pattern 1: Data Cleaning Pipeline

Using Chaining (Recommended - v0.1.5-BETA+):

var raw = phantom.maps.channel.get("rawData");

// Clean and normalize using chaining
var cleanedData = phantom.strings.chain(raw)
    .trim()
    .toLowerCase()
    .capitalize()
    .value();

phantom.maps.channel.save("cleanedData", cleanedData);

Traditional Way (Still Works):

var raw = phantom.maps.channel.get("rawData");

// Clean and normalize
var step1 = phantom.strings.operation.trim(raw);
var step2 = phantom.strings.operation.toLowerCase(step1);
var step3 = phantom.strings.operation.capitalize(step2);

phantom.maps.channel.save("cleanedData", step3);

Pattern 2: Format Validation

var email = phantom.maps.channel.get("email");

if (!phantom.strings.operation.isEmpty(email) && 
    phantom.strings.operation.contains(email, "@")) {
    // Valid email format
    phantom.maps.channel.save("validEmail", email);
}

Pattern 3: String Transformation

var id = phantom.maps.channel.get("id");

// Pad with zeros
var paddedId = phantom.strings.operation.leftPad(id, "0", 8);
// Output: "00001234"

// Format as display string
var displayId = "ID-" + paddedId;

Pattern 4: Data Extraction

var fullName = "John, Doe";

// Split and process
var parts = phantom.strings.operation.split(fullName, ", ");
var firstName = phantom.strings.operation.trim(parts[0]);
var lastName = phantom.strings.operation.trim(parts[1]);

Best Practices

1. Always handle null/undefined - Most operations convert them to empty strings
2. Use trim before processing - Clean input data first
3. Chain operations - Build transformation pipelines
4. Validate before processing - Check isEmpty/isBlank when needed

Related Topics

• Number Operations - Work with numeric data
• Map Operations - Store and retrieve string data
• Examples - Real-world string processing examples