Module:String2

The module String2 contains five general purpose calls that convert strings to upper, lower, sentence or title case. There are also two utility calls that strip leading zeros from padded numbers and transform text so that it is not interpreted as wikitext.

Functions

upper

The upper function simply converts all characters to upper case.

lower

The upper function simply converts all characters to upper case.

title

The title function capitalises the first letter of each word in the text, apart from a number of short words recommended by The U.S. Government Printing Office Style Manual: a, an, the, at, by, for, in, of, on, to, up, and, as, but, or, and nor.

sentence

The sentence function finds the first letter and capitalises it, then renders the rest of the text in lower case. It works properly with text containing wiki-markup. Compare {{#invoke:String2|sentence|[[chronic fatigue syndrome]]}} -> Chronic fatigue syndrome with {{ucfirst:{{lc:[[chronic fatigue syndrome]]}}}} -> chronic fatigue syndrome. Piped wiki-links are handled as well: {{#invoke:String2|sentence|[[the sick and Tired (BBC)|sick and Tired]]}} -> Sick and tired. So are lists:

• {{#invoke:String2 |sentence |{{hlist |canada |spain |france}}}} →
  • canada
  • spain
  • france

ucfirst

The ucfirst function is similar to sentence; it renders the first alphabetical character in upper case, but leaves the capitalisation of the rest of the text unaltered. This is useful if the text contains proper nouns, but it will not regularise sentences that are ALLCAPS, for example. It also works with text containing piped wiki-links and with html lists.

stripZeros

The stripZeros functions finds the first number in a string of text and strips leading zeros, but retains a zero which is followed by a decimal point. For example: "0940" -> "940"; "Year: 0023" -> "Year: 23"; "00.12" -> "0.12"

nowiki

The nowiki function ensures that a string of text is treated by the MediaWiki software as just a string, not code. It trims leading and trailing whitespace.

posnq

• posnq (position, no quotes) returns the numerical start position of the first occurrence of one piece of text ("match") inside another ("str").
• It returns nil if no match is found, or if either parameter is blank.
• It takes the text to be searched in as the first unnamed parameter, which is trimmed.
• It takes the text to match as the second unnamed parameter, which is trimmed and any double quotes " are stripped out. That allows spaces at the beginning or end of the match string to be included in a consistent manner.

Usage

• {{#invoke:String2 | upper |…}} - Shifts all characters to uppercase
• {{#invoke:String2 | lower |…}} - Shifts all characters to lowercase
• {{#invoke:String2 | sentence |…}} - Capitalizes the first character and shifts the rest to lowercase
  • Although similar to magic words' {{ucfirst:}} function, this call works even with piped wiki-links because it searches beyond leading brackets and other non-alphanumeric characters.
  • It now also recognises when it has an html list passed to it and capitalises the first alphabetic letter beyond the list item markup (<li>) and any piped links that may be there.
• {{#invoke:String2 | ucfirst |…}} - Capitalizes the first character and leaves the rest unaltered
  • Works with piped wiki-links and html lists
• {{#invoke:String2 | title |…}} - Capitalizes all words, except for a, an, the, at, by, for, in, of, on, to, up, and, as, but, or, and nor.
• {{#invoke:String2 | stripZeros |…}} - Removes leading padding zeros from the first number it finds in the string
• {{#invoke:String2 | title |…}} - Renders the string as plain text without wikicode

Parameters

These functions take one unnamed parameter comprising (or invoking as a string) the text to be manipulated.

Examples

Input	Output
{{#invoke:String2| upper | abcd }}	ABCD
{{#invoke:String2| upper | abCD }}	ABCD
{{#invoke:String2| upper | ABcd }}	ABCD
{{#invoke:String2| upper | ABCD }}	ABCD
{{#invoke:String2| upper | }}
{{#invoke:String2| lower | abcd }}	abcd
{{#invoke:String2| lower | abCD }}	abcd
{{#invoke:String2| lower | ABcd }}	abcd
{{#invoke:String2| lower | ABCD }}	abcd
{{#invoke:String2| lower | }}
{{#invoke:String2| ucfirst | abcd }}	Abcd
{{#invoke:String2| ucfirst | abCD }}	AbCD
{{#invoke:String2| ucfirst | ABcd }}	ABcd
{{#invoke:String2| ucfirst | ABCD }}	ABCD
{{#invoke:String2| ucfirst | }}
{{#invoke:String2| ucfirst | human X chromosome }}	Human X chromosome
{{#invoke:String2| sentence | abcd }}	Abcd
{{#invoke:String2| sentence | abCD }}	Abcd
{{#invoke:String2| sentence | ABcd }}	Abcd
{{#invoke:String2| sentence | ABCD }}	Abcd
{{#invoke:String2| sentence | [[chronic fatigue syndrome]] }}	Chronic fatigue syndrome
{{#invoke:String2| sentence | [[sick and Tired (BBC documentary)|sick and tired]] }}	Sick and tired
{{#invoke:String2| sentence | }}
{{#invoke:String2| title | abcd }}	Abcd
{{#invoke:String2| title | abCD }}	Abcd
{{#invoke:String2| title | ABcd }}	Abcd
{{#invoke:String2| title | ABCD }}	Abcd
{{#invoke:String2| title | }}
{{#invoke:String2| title | the vitamins are in my fresh california raisins}}	The Vitamins Are in My Fresh California Raisins

See also

Module:String for the following functions:

• len
• sub
• sublength
• match
• pos
• str_find
• find
• replace
• rep

Other templates

• {{Sentencecase}}
• {{Uppercase}}
• {{Lowercase}}

---

local p = {}


p.upper = function(frame)
	local s = mw.text.trim(frame.args[1] or "")
	return string.upper(s)
end

p.lower = function(frame)
	local s = mw.text.trim(frame.args[1] or "")
	return string.lower(s)
end


p.sentence = function (frame )
	frame.args[1] = string.lower(frame.args[1])
	return p.ucfirst(frame)
end


p.ucfirst = function (frame )
	local s =  mw.text.trim( frame.args[1] or "" )
	local s1 = ""
	-- if it's a list chop off and (store as s1) everything up to the first <li>
	local lipos = string.find(s, "<li>" )
	if lipos then
		s1 = string.sub(s, 1, lipos + 3)
		s = string.sub(s, lipos + 4)
	end
	-- s1 is either "" or the first part of the list markup, so we can continue
	-- and prepend s1 to the returned string
	if string.find(s, "^%[%[[^|]+|[^%]]+%]%]") then
		-- this is a piped wikilink, so we capitalise the text, not the pipe
		local b, c = string.find(s, "|%A*%a") -- find the first letter after the pipe
		return s1 .. string.sub(s, 1, c-1) .. string.upper(string.sub(s, c, c)) .. string.sub(s, c+1)
	end
	local letterpos = string.find(s, '%a')
	if letterpos then
		local first = string.sub(s, 1, letterpos - 1)
		local letter = string.sub(s, letterpos, letterpos)
		local rest = string.sub(s, letterpos + 1)
		return s1 .. first .. string.upper(letter) .. rest
	else
		return s1 .. s
	end
end


p.title = function (frame )
	-- http://grammar.yourdictionary.com/capitalization/rules-for-capitalization-in-titles.html
	-- recommended by The U.S. Government Printing Office Style Manual:
	-- "Capitalize all words in titles of publications and documents,
	-- except a, an, the, at, by, for, in, of, on, to, up, and, as, but, or, and nor."
	local alwayslower = {['a'] = 1, ['an'] = 1, ['the'] = 1, 
		['and'] = 1, ['but'] = 1, ['or'] = 1, ['for'] = 1,
		['nor'] = 1, ['on'] = 1, ['in'] = 1, ['at'] = 1, ['to'] = 1,
		['from'] = 1, ['by'] = 1, ['of'] = 1, ['up'] = 1 }
	local res = ''
	local s =  mw.text.trim( frame.args[1] or "" )
	local words = mw.text.split( s, " ")
	for i, s in ipairs(words) do
		s = string.lower( s )
		if( i > 1 and alwayslower[s] == 1) then
			-- leave in lowercase
		else
			s = mw.getContentLanguage():ucfirst(s)
		end
		words[i] = s
	end
	return table.concat(words, " ")
end


-- stripZeros finds the first number and strips leading zeros (apart from units)
-- e.g "0940" -> "940"; "Year: 0023" -> "Year: 23"; "00.12" -> "0.12"
p.stripZeros = function(frame)
	local s = mw.text.trim(frame.args[1] or "")
	n = tonumber( string.match( s, "%d+" ) ) or ""
	s = string.gsub( s, "%d+", n, 1 )
	return s
end


-- nowiki ensures that a string of text is treated by the MediaWiki software as just a string
-- it takes an unnamed parameter and trims whitespace, then removes any wikicode
p.nowiki = function(frame)
	local str = mw.text.trim(frame.args[1] or "")
	return mw.text.nowiki(str)
end


-- posnq (position, no quotes) returns the numerical start position of the first occurrence
-- of one piece of text ("match") inside another ("str").
-- It returns nil if no match is found, or if either parameter is blank.
-- It takes the text to be searched in as the first unnamed parameter, which is trimmed.
-- It takes the text to match as the second unnamed parameter, which is trimmed and
-- any double quotes " are stripped out.
p.posnq = function(frame)
	local str = mw.text.trim(frame.args[1] or "")
	local match = mw.text.trim(frame.args[2] or ""):gsub('"', '')
	if  str == "" or match == "" then return nil end
	-- just take the start position
	local pos = str:find(match, 1, true)
	return pos
end


return p