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String Class

Contains methods for the String primitive data type.

Namespace

System

Usage

For more information on Strings, see Primitive Data Types.

String Methods

The following are methods for String.

abbreviate(Integer)

Returns an abbreviated version of the String, of the specified length and with ellipses appended if the current String is longer than the specified length; otherwise, returns the original String without ellipses.

Signature

public String abbreviate(Integer maxWidth)

Parameters

maxWidth: Type: Integer; If maxWidth is less than four, this method throws a run-time exception.

Return Value

Type: String

Example

1String s = 'Hello Maximillian';
2String s2 = 
3   s.abbreviate(8);
4System.assertEquals(
5   'Hello...', s2);
6System.assertEquals(
7   8, s2.length());

abbreviate(Integer, Integer)

Returns an abbreviated version of the String, starting at the specified character offset and of the specified length. The returned String has ellipses appended at the start and the end if characters have been removed at these locations.

Signature

public String abbreviate(Integer maxWidth, Integer offset)

Parameters

maxWidth: Type: Integer; Note that the offset is not necessarily the leftmost character in the returned String or the first character following the ellipses, but it appears somewhere in the result. Regardless, abbreviate won’t return a String of length greater than maxWidth.If maxWidth is too small, this method throws a run-time exception.
offset: Type: Integer

Return Value

Type: String

Example

1String s = 
2   'Hello Maximillian';
3// Start at M
4String s2 = 
5   s.abbreviate(9,6);
6System.assertEquals(
7   '...Max...', s2);
8System.assertEquals(
9   9, s2.length());

capitalize()

Returns the current String with the first letter changed to title case.

Signature

public String capitalize()

Return Value

Type: String

Usage

This method is based on the Character.toTitleCase(char) Java method.

Example

1String s = 
2   'hello maximillian';
3String s2 = 
4   s.capitalize();
5System.assertEquals(
6   'Hello maximillian', 
7    s2);

center(Integer)

Returns a version of the current String of the specified size padded with spaces on the left and right, so that it appears in the center. If the specified size is smaller than the current String size, the entire String is returned without added spaces.

Signature

public String center(Integer size)

Parameters

size: Type: Integer

Return Value

Type: String

Example

1String s = 'hello';
2String s2 = 
3   s.center(9);
4System.assertEquals(
5   '  hello  ',
6   s2);

center(Integer, String)

Returns a version of the current String of the specified size padded with the specified String on the left and right, so that it appears in the center. If the specified size is smaller than the current String size, the entire String is returned without padding.

Signature

public String center(Integer size, String padStr)

Parameters

size: Type: Integer
padStr: Type: String

Return Value

Type: String

Example

1String s = 'hello';
2String s2 = 
3   s.center(9);
4System.assertEquals(
5   '--hello--',
6   s2);

compareTo(String)

Compares two strings lexicographically, based on the Unicode value of each character in the Strings.

Signature

public Integer compareTo(String compString)

Parameters

compString: Type: String

Return Value

Type: Integer

Usage

The result is:

A negative Integer if the String that called the method lexicographically precedes compString
A positive Integer if the String that called the method lexicographically follows compString
Zero if the Strings are equal

If there is no index position at which the Strings differ, then the shorter String lexicographically precedes the longer String.

Note that this method returns 0 whenever the equals method returns true.

Example

1String myString1 = 'abcde';
2String myString2 = 'abcd';
3Integer result = 
4   myString1.compareTo(myString2);
5System.assertEquals(result, 1);

contains(String)

Returns true if and only if the String that called the method contains the specified sequence of characters in the compString.

Signature

public Boolean contains(String compString)

Parameters

compString: Type: String

Return Value

Type: Boolean

Example

1String myString1 = 'abcde';
2String myString2 = 'abcd';
3Boolean result = 
4   myString1.contains(myString2);
5System.assertEquals(result, true);

containsAny(String)

Returns true if the current String contains any of the characters in the specified String; otherwise, returns false.

Signature

public Boolean containsAny(String compString)

Parameters

compString: Type: String

Return Value

Type: Boolean

Example

1String s = 'hello';
2Boolean b1 = 
3   s.containsAny('hx');
4Boolean b2 = 
5   s.containsAny('x');
6System.assertEquals(
7   true,
8   b1);
9System.assertEquals(
10   false,
11   b2);

containsIgnoreCase(String)

Returns true if the current String contains the specified sequence of characters without regard to case; otherwise, returns false.

Signature

public Boolean containsIgnoreCase(String compString)

Parameters

compString: Type: String

Return Value

Type: Boolean

Example

1String s = 'hello';
2Boolean b = 
3   s.containsIgnoreCase('HE');
4System.assertEquals(
5   true,
6   b);

containsNone(String)

Returns true if the current String doesn’t contain the specified sequence of characters; otherwise, returns false.

Signature

public Boolean containsNone(String compString)

Parameters

compString: Type: String; If compString is an empty string or the current String is empty, this method returns true.If compString is null, this method returns a run-time exception.

Return Value

Type: Boolean

containsOnly(String)

Returns true if the current String contains characters only from the specified sequence of characters and not any other characters; otherwise, returns false.

Signature

public Boolean containsOnly(String compString)

Parameters

compString: Type: String

Return Value

Type: Boolean

Example

1String s1 = 'abba';
2String s2 = 'abba xyz';
3Boolean b1 = 
4   s1.containsOnly('abcd');
5System.assertEquals(
6   true,
7   b1);
8Boolean b2 = 
9   s2.containsOnly('abcd');
10System.assertEquals(
11   false,
12   b2);

containsWhitespace()

Returns true if the current String contains any white space characters; otherwise, returns false.

Signature

public Boolean containsWhitespace()

Return Value

Type: Boolean

countMatches(String)

Returns the number of times the specified substring occurs in the current String.

Signature

public Integer countMatches(String compString)

Parameters

compString: Type: String

Return Value

Type: Integer

deleteWhitespace()

Returns a version of the current String with all white space characters removed.

Signature

public String deleteWhitespace()

Return Value

Type: String

difference(String)

Returns the difference between the current String and the specified String.

Signature

public String difference(String compString)

Parameters

compString: Type: String; If compString is an empty string, this method returns an empty string.If compString is null, this method throws a run-time exception.

Return Value

Type: String

Example

1String s = 'Hello Jane';
2String d1 = 
3   s.difference('Hello Max');
4System.assertEquals(
5   'Max',
6   d1);
7String d2 = 
8   s.difference('Goodbye');
9System.assertEquals(
10   'Goodbye',
11   d2);

endsWith(String)

Returns true if the String that called the method ends with the specified suffix.

Signature

public Boolean endsWith(String suffix)

Parameters

suffix: Type: String

Return Value

Type: Boolean

endsWithIgnoreCase(String)

Returns true if the current String ends with the specified suffix; otherwise, returns false.

Signature

public Boolean endsWithIgnoreCase(String suffix)

Parameters

suffix: Type: String

Return Value

Type: Boolean

equals(String)

Returns true if the compString is not null and represents the same binary sequence of characters as the String that called the method. This method is true whenever the compareTo method returns 0. For example:

Signature

public Boolean equals(String compString)

Parameters

compString: Type: String

Return Value

Type: Boolean

Usage

Note that the == operator also performs String comparison, but is case-insensitive to match Apex semantics. (== is case-sensitive for ID comparison for the same reason.)

Example

1String myString1 = 'abcde';
2String myString2 = 'abcd';
3Boolean result = 
4   myString1.equals(myString2);
5System.assertEquals(result, false);

equalsIgnoreCase(String)

Returns true if the compString is not null and represents the same sequence of characters as the String that called the method, ignoring case. For example:

Signature

public Boolean equalsIgnoreCase(String compString)

Parameters

compString: Type: String

Return Value

Type: Boolean

Example

1String myString1 = 'abcd';
2String myString2 = 'ABCD';
3Boolean result = 
4myString1.equalsIgnoreCase(myString2);
5System.assertEquals(result, true);

escapeCsv()

Returns a String for a CSV column enclosed in double quotes, if required.

Signature

public String escapeCsv()

Return Value

Type: String

Usage

If the String contains a comma, newline or double quote, the returned String is enclosed in double quotes. Also, any double quote characters in the String are escaped with another double quote.

If the String doesn’t contain a comma, newline or double quote, it is returned unchanged.

Example

1String s1 = 
2   'Max1, "Max2"';
3String s2 = 
4   s1.escapeCsv();
5System.assertEquals(
6   '"Max1, ""Max2"""', 
7    s2);

escapeEcmaScript()

Escapes the characters in the String using EcmaScript String rules.

Signature

public String escapeEcmaScript()

Return Value

Type: String

Usage

The only difference between Apex strings and EcmaScript strings is that in EcmaScript, a single quote and forward-slash (/) are escaped.

Example

1String s1 = '"grade": 3.9/4.0';
2String s2 = s1.escapeEcmaScript();
3System.debug(s2);
4// Output is:
5// \"grade\": 3.9\/4.0
6System.assertEquals(
7   '\\"grade\\": 3.9\\/4.0', 
8    s2);

escapeHtml3()

Escapes the characters in a String using HTML 3.0 entities.

Signature

public String escapeHtml3()

Return Value

Type: String

Example

1String s1 = 
2   '"<Black&White>"';
3String s2 = 
4   s1.escapeHtml3();
5System.debug(s2);
6// Output:
7// &quot;&lt;Black&amp;
8// White&gt;&quot;

escapeHtml4()

Escapes the characters in a String using HTML 4.0 entities.

Signature

public String escapeHtml4()

Return Value

Type: String

Example

1String s1 = 
2   '"<Black&White>"';
3String s2 = 
4   s1.escapeHtml4();
5System.debug(s2);
6// Output:
7// &quot;&lt;Black&amp;
8// White&gt;&quot;

escapeJava()

Returns a String whose characters are escaped using Java String rules. Characters escaped include quotes and control characters, such as tab, backslash, and carriage return characters.

Signature

public String escapeJava()

Return Value

Type: String

The escaped string.

Example

1// Input string contains quotation marks
2String s = 'Company: "Salesforce.com"';
3String escapedStr = s.escapeJava();
4// Output string has the quotes escpaded
5System.assertEquals('Company: \\"Salesforce.com\\"', escapedStr);

escapeSingleQuotes(String)

Returns a String with the escape character (\) added before any single quotation marks in the String s.

Signature

public static String escapeSingleQuotes(String stringToEscape)

Parameters

stringToEscape: Type: String

Return Value

Type: String

Usage

This method is useful when creating a dynamic SOQL statement, to help prevent SOQL injection. For more information on dynamic SOQL, see Dynamic SOQL.

escapeUnicode()

Returns a String whose Unicode characters are escaped to a Unicode escape sequence.

Signature

public String escapeUnicode()

Return Value

Type: String

The escaped string.

Example

1String s = 'De onde você é?';
2String escapedStr = s.escapeUnicode();
3System.assertEquals('De onde voc\\u00EA \\u00E9?', escapedStr);

escapeXml()

Escapes the characters in a String using XML entities.

Signature

public String escapeXml()

Return Value

Type: String

Usage

Supports only the five basic XML entities (gt, lt, quot, amp, apos). Does not support DTDs or external entities. Unicode characters greater than 0x7f are not escaped.

Example

1String s1 = 
2   '"<Black&White>"';
3String s2 = 
4   s1.escapeXml();
5System.debug(s2);
6// Output:
7// &quot;&lt;Black&amp;
8// White&gt;&quot;

format(String, List<String>)

Treat the current string as a pattern that should be used for substitution in the same manner as apex:outputText.

Signature

public static String format(String stringToFormat, List<String> formattingArguments)

Parameters

stringToFormat: Type: String
formattingArguments: Type: List<String>

Return Value

Type: String

fromCharArray(List<Integer>)

Returns a String from the values of the list of integers.

Signature

public static String fromCharArray(List<Integer> charArray)

Parameters

charArray: Type: List<Integer>

Return Value

Type: String

getCommonPrefix(List<String>)

Returns the initial sequence of characters as a String that is common to all the specified Strings.

Signature

public static String getCommonPrefix(List<String> strings)

Parameters

strings: Type: List<String>

Return Value

Type: String

Example

1List<String> ls = 
2   new List<String>
3   {'SFDCApex',
4    'SFDCVisualforce'};
5String prefix = 
6   String.getCommonPrefix(
7    ls);
8System.assertEquals(
9    'SFDC', prefix);

getLevenshteinDistance(String)

Returns the Levenshtein distance between the current String and the specified String.

Signature

public Integer getLevenshteinDistance(String stringToCompare)

Parameters

stringToCompare: Type: String

Return Value

Type: Integer

Usage

The Levenshtein distance is the number of changes needed to change one String into another. Each change is a single character modification (deletion, insertion or substitution).

Example

1String s = 'Hello Joe';
2Integer i = 
3   s.getLevenshteinDistance(
4      'Hello Max');
5System.assertEquals(
6   3, i);

getLevenshteinDistance(String, Integer)

Returns the Levenshtein distance between the current String and the specified String if it is less than or equal than the given threshold; otherwise, returns -1.

Signature

public Integer getLevenshteinDistance(String stringToCompare, Integer threshold)

Parameters

stringToCompare: Type: String
threshold: Type: Integer

Return Value

Type: Integer

Usage

The Levenshtein distance is the number of changes needed to change one String into another. Each change is a single character modification (deletion, insertion or substitution).

Example:

In this example, the Levenshtein distance is 3, but the threshold argument is 2, which is less than the distance, so this method returns -1.

Example

1String s = 'Hello Jane';
2Integer i = 
3   s.getLevenshteinDistance(
4      'Hello Max', 2);
5System.assertEquals(
6   -1, i);

hashCode()

Returns a hash code value for this string.

Signature

public Integer hashCode()

Return Value

Type: Integer

Usage

This value is based on the hash code computed by the Java String.hashCode counterpart method.

You can use this method to simplify the computation of a hash code for a custom type that contains String member variables. You can compute your type’s hash code value based on the hash code of each String variable. For example:

For more details about the use of hash code methods with custom types, see Using Custom Types in Map Keys and Sets.

Example

1public class MyCustomClass {
2   String x,y;
3   // Provide a custom hash code
4   public Integer hashCode() {
5    return 
6    (31*x.hashCode())^(y.hashCode());
7   }
8}

indexOf(String)

Returns the index of the first occurrence of the specified substring. If the substring does not occur, this method returns -1.

Signature

public Integer indexOf(String subString)

Parameters

subString: Type: String

Return Value

Type: Integer

indexOf(String, Integer)

Returns the zero-based index of the first occurrence of the specified substring from the point of the given index. If the substring does not occur, this method returns -1.

Signature

public Integer indexOf(String substring, Integer index)

Parameters

substring: Type: String
index: Type: Integer

Return Value

Type: Integer

Example

1String myString1 = 'abcd';
2String myString2 = 'bc';
3Integer result = 
4   myString1.indexOf(myString2, 0);
5System.assertEquals(1, result);

indexOfAny(String)

Returns the zero-based index of the first occurrence of any character specified in the substring. If none of the characters occur, returns -1.

Signature

public Integer indexOfAny(String substring)

Parameters

substring: Type: String

Return Value

Type: Integer

Example

1String s1 = 'abcd';
2String s2 = 'xc';
3Integer result = 
4   s1.indexOfAny(s2);
5System.assertEquals(
6   2, result);

indexOfAnyBut(String)

Returns the zero-based index of the first occurrence of a character that is not in the specified substring. Otherwise, returns -1.

Signature

public Integer indexOfAnyBut(String substring)

Parameters

substring: Type: String

Return Value

Type: Integer

Example

1String s1 = 'abcd';
2String s2 = 'xc';
3Integer result = 
4   s1.indexOfAnyBut(s2);
5System.assertEquals(
6   0, result);

indexOfDifference(String)

Returns the zero-based index of the character where the current String begins to differ from the specified String.

Signature

public Integer indexOfDifference(String stringToCompare)

Parameters

stringToCompare: Type: String

Return Value

Type: Integer

Example

1String s1 = 'abcd';
2String s2 = 'abxc';
3Integer result = 
4   s1.indexOfDifference(s2);
5System.assertEquals(
6   2, result);

indexOfIgnoreCase(String)

Returns the zero-based index of the first occurrence of the specified substring without regard to case. If the substring does not occur, this method returns -1.

Signature

public Integer indexOfIgnoreCase(String substring)

Parameters

substring: Type: String

Return Value

Type: Integer

Example

1String s1 = 'abcd';
2String s2 = 'BC';
3Integer result = 
4   s1.indexOfIgnoreCase(s2, 0);
5System.assertEquals(1, result);

indexOfIgnoreCase(String, Integer)

Returns the zero-based index of the first occurrence of the specified substring from the point of index i, without regard to case. If the substring does not occur, this method returns -1.

Signature

public Integer indexOfIgnoreCase(String substring, Integer startPosition)

Parameters

substring: Type: String
startPosition: Type: Integer

Return Value

Type: Integer

isAllLowerCase()

Returns true if all characters in the current String are lowercase; otherwise, returns false.

Signature

public Boolean isAllLowerCase()

Return Value

Type: Boolean

isAllUpperCase()

Returns true if all characters in the current String are uppercase; otherwise, returns false.

Signature

public Boolean isAllUpperCase()

Return Value

Type: Boolean

isAlpha()

Returns true if all characters in the current String are Unicode letters only; otherwise, returns false.

Signature

public Boolean isAlpha()

Return Value

Type: Boolean

Example

1// Letters only
2String s1 = 'abc';
3// Returns true
4Boolean b1 = 
5   s1.isAlpha();
6System.assertEquals(
7   true, b1);
8
9// Letters and numbers
10String s2 = 'abc 21';
11// Returns false
12Boolean b2 = 
13   s2.isAlpha();
14System.assertEquals(
15   false, b2);

isAlphaSpace()

Returns true if all characters in the current String are Unicode letters or spaces only; otherwise, returns false.

Signature

public Boolean isAlphaSpace()

Return Value

Type: Boolean

isAlphanumeric()

Returns true if all characters in the current String are Unicode letters or numbers only; otherwise, returns false.

Signature

public Boolean isAlphanumeric()

Return Value

Type: Boolean

Example

1// Letters only
2String s1 = 'abc';
3// Returns true
4Boolean b1 = 
5   s1.isAlphanumeric();
6System.assertEquals(
7   true, b1);
8
9// Letters and numbers
10String s2 = 'abc021';
11// Returns true
12Boolean b2 = 
13   s2.isAlphanumeric();
14System.assertEquals(
15   true, b2);

isAlphanumericSpace()

Returns true if all characters in the current String are Unicode letters, numbers, or spaces only; otherwise, returns false.

Signature

public Boolean isAlphanumericSpace()

Return Value

Type: Boolean

isAsciiPrintable()

Returns true if the current String contains only ASCII printable characters; otherwise, returns false.

Signature

public Boolean isAsciiPrintable()

Return Value

Type: Boolean

isBlank(String)

Returns true if the specified String is white space, empty (''), or null; otherwise, returns false.

Signature

public static Boolean isBlank(String inputString)

Parameters

inputString: Type: String

Return Value

Type: Boolean

isEmpty(String)

Returns true if the specified String is empty ('') or null; otherwise, returns false.

Signature

public static Boolean isEmpty(String inputString)

Parameters

inputString: Type: String

Return Value

Type: Boolean

isNotBlank(String)

Returns true if the specified String is not whitespace, not empty (''), and not null; otherwise, returns false.

Signature

public static Boolean isNotBlank(String inputString)

Parameters

inputString: Type: String

Return Value

Type: Boolean

isNotEmpty(String)

Returns true if the specified String is not empty ('') and not null; otherwise, returns false.

Signature

public static Boolean isNotEmpty(String inputString)

Parameters

inputString: Type: String

Return Value

Type: Boolean

isNumeric()

Returns true if the current String contains only Unicode digits; otherwise, returns false.

Signature

public Boolean isNumeric()

Return Value

Type: Boolean

Usage

A decimal point (1.2) is not a Unicode digit.

isNumericSpace()

Returns true if the current String contains only Unicode digits or spaces; otherwise, returns false.

Signature

public Boolean isNumericSpace()

Return Value

Type: Boolean

Usage

A decimal point (1.2) is not a Unicode digit.

isWhitespace()

Returns true if the current String contains only white space characters; otherwise, returns false.

Signature

public Boolean isWhitespace()

Return Value

Type: Boolean

join(Object, String)

Joins the elements of the specified iterable object, such as a List, into a single String separated by the specified separator.

Signature

public static String join(Object iterableObj, String separator)

Parameters

iterableObj: Type: Object
separator: Type: String

Return Value

Type: String

Usage

1List<Integer> li = new 
2   List<Integer> 
3   {10, 20, 30};
4String s = String.join(
5   li, '/');
6System.assertEquals(
7   '10/20/30', s);

lastIndexOf(String)

Returns the index of the last occurrence of the specified substring. If the substring does not occur, this method returns -1.

Signature

public Integer lastIndexOf(String substring)

Parameters

substring: Type: String

Return Value

Type: Integer

lastIndexOf(String, Integer)

Returns the index of the last occurrence of the specified substring, starting from the character at index 0 and ending at the specified index.

Signature

public Integer lastIndexOf(String substring, Integer endPosition)

Parameters

substring: Type: String
endPosition: Type: Integer

Return Value

Type: Integer

Usage

If the substring doesn’t occur or endPosition is negative, this method returns -1. If endPosition is larger than the last index in the current String, the entire String is searched.

Example

1String s1 = 'abcdaacd';
2Integer i1 = 
3   s1.lastIndexOf('c', 7);
4System.assertEquals(
5   6, i1);
6Integer i2 = 
7   s1.lastIndexOf('c', 3);
8System.assertEquals(
9   2, i2);

lastIndexOfIgnoreCase(String)

Returns the index of the last occurrence of the specified substring regardless of case.

Signature

public Integer lastIndexOfIgnoreCase(String substring)

Parameters

substring: Type: String

Return Value

Type: Integer

Usage

If the substring doesn’t occur, this method returns -1.

Example

1String s1 = 'abcdaacd';
2Integer i1 = 
3   s1.lastIndexOfIgnoreCase('DAAC');
4System.assertEquals(
5   3, i1);

lastIndexOfIgnoreCase(String, Integer)

Returns the index of the last occurrence of the specified substring regardless of case, starting from the character at index 0 and ending at the specified index.

Signature

public Integer lastIndexOfIgnoreCase(String substring, Integer endPosition)

Parameters

substring: Type: String
endPosition: Type: Integer

Return Value

Type: Integer

Usage

If the substring doesn’t occur or endPosition is negative, this method returns -1. If endPosition is larger than the last index in the current String, the entire String is searched.

Example

1String s1 = 'abcdaacd';
2Integer i1 = 
3   s1.lastIndexOfIgnoreCase('C', 7);
4System.assertEquals(
5   6, i1);

left(Integer)

Returns the leftmost characters of the current String of the specified length.

Signature

public String left(Integer length)

Parameters

length: Type: Integer

Return Value

Type: String

Usage

If length is greater than the String size, the entire String is returned.

Example

1String s1 = 'abcdaacd';
2String s2 = 
3   s1.left(3);
4System.assertEquals(
5   'abc', s2);

leftPad(Integer)

Returns the current String padded with spaces on the left and of the specified length.

Signature

public String leftPad(Integer length)

Parameters

length: Type: Integer

Usage

If length is less than or equal to the current String size, the entire String is returned without space padding.

Return Value

Type: String

Example

1String s1 = 'abc';
2String s2 = 
3   s1.leftPad(5);
4System.assertEquals(
5   '  abc', s2);

length()

Returns the number of 16-bit Unicode characters contained in the String.

Signature

public Integer length()

Return Value

Type: Integer

Example

1String myString = 'abcd';
2Integer result = myString.length();
3System.assertEquals(result, 4);

mid(Integer, Integer)

Returns a new String that begins with the character at the specified zero-based startIndex with the number of characters specified by length.

Signature

public String mid(Integer startIndex, Integer length)

Parameters

startIndex: Type: Integer; If startIndex is negative, it is considered to be zero.
length: Type: Integer; If length is negative or zero, an empty String is returned. If length is greater than the remaining characters, the remainder of the String is returned.

Return Value

Type: String

Usage

This method is similar to the substring(startIndex) and substring(startIndex, endIndex) methods, except that the second argument is the number of characters to return.

Example

1String s = 'abcde';
2String s2 = s.mid(2, 3);
3System.assertEquals(
4   'cde', s2);

normalizeSpace()

Returns the current String with leading, trailing, and repeating white space characters removed.

Signature

public String normalizeSpace()

Return Value

Type: String

Usage

This method normalizes the following white space characters: space, tab (\t), new line (\n), carriage return (\r), and form feed (\f).

Example

1String s1 = 
2   'Salesforce \t     force.com';
3String s2 = 
4   s1.normalizeSpace();
5System.assertEquals(
6   'Salesforce force.com', s2);

remove(String)

Removes all occurrences of the specified substring and returns the String result.

Signature

public String remove(String substring)

Parameters

substring: Type: String

Return Value

Type: String

Example

1String s1 = 'Salesforce and force.com';
2String s2 = 
3   s1.remove('force');
4System.assertEquals(
5   'Sales and .com', s2);

removeEnd(String)

Removes the specified substring only if it occurs at the end of the String.

Signature

public String removeEnd(String substring)

Parameters

substring: Type: String

Return Value

Type: String

Example

1String s1 = 'Salesforce and force.com';
2String s2 = 
3   s1.removeEnd('.com');
4System.assertEquals(
5   'Salesforce and force', s2);

removeEndIgnoreCase(String)

Removes the specified substring only if it occurs at the end of the String using a case-insensitive match.

Signature

public String removeEndIgnoreCase(String substring)

Parameters

substring: Type: String

Return Value

Type: String

Example

1String s1 = 'Salesforce and force.com';
2String s2 = 
3   s1.removeEndIgnoreCase('.COM');
4System.assertEquals(
5   'Salesforce and force', s2);

removeStart(String)

Removes the specified substring only if it occurs at the beginning of the String.

Signature

public String removeStart(String substring)

Parameters

substring: Type: String

Return Value

Type: String

Example

1String s1 = 'Salesforce and force.com';
2String s2 = 
3   s1.removeStart('Sales');
4System.assertEquals(
5   'force and force.com', s2);

removeStartIgnoreCase(String)

Removes the specified substring only if it occurs at the beginning of the String using a case-insensitive match.

Signature

public String removeStartIgnoreCase(String substring)

Parameters

substring: Type: String

Return Value

Type: String

Example

1String s1 = 'Salesforce and force.com';
2String s2 = 
3   s1.removeStartIgnoreCase('SALES');
4System.assertEquals(
5   'force and force.com', s2);

repeat(Integer)

Returns the current String repeated the specified number of times.

Signature

public String repeat(Integer numTimes)

Parameters

numTimes: Type: Integer

Return Value

Type: String

Example

1String s1 = 'SFDC';
2String s2 = 
3   s1.repeat(2);
4System.assertEquals(
5   'SFDCSFDC', s2);

repeat(String, Integer)

Returns the current String repeated the specified number of times using the specified separator to separate the repeated Strings.

Signature

public String repeat(String separator, Integer numTimes)

Parameters

separator: Type: String
numTimes: Type: Integer

Return Value

Type: String

Example

1String s1 = 'SFDC';
2String s2 = 
3   s1.repeat('-', 2);
4System.assertEquals(
5   'SFDC-SFDC', s2);

replace(String, String)

Replaces each substring of a string that matches the literal target sequence target with the specified literal replacement sequence replacement.

Signature

public String replace(String target, String replacement)

Parameters

target: Type: String
replacement: Type: String

Return Value

Type: String

replaceAll(String, String)

Replaces each substring of a string that matches the regular expression regExp with the replacement sequence replacement.

Signature

public String replaceAll(String regExp, String replacement)

Parameters

regExp: Type: String
replacement: Type: String

Return Value

Type: String

Usage

See the Java Pattern class for information on regular expressions.

replaceFirst(String, String)

Replaces the first substring of a string that matches the regular expression regExp with the replacement sequence replacement.

Signature

public String replaceFirst(String regExp, String replacement)

Parameters

regExp: Type: String
replacement: Type: String

Return Value

Type: String

Usage

See the Java Pattern class for information on regular expressions.

reverse()

Returns a String with all the characters reversed.

Signature

public String reverse()

Return Value

Type: String

right(Integer)

Returns the rightmost characters of the current String of the specified length.

Signature

public String right(Integer length)

Parameters

length: Type: Integer; If length is greater than the String size, the entire String is returned.

Return Value

Type: String

Example

1String s1 = 'Hello Max';
2String s2 = 
3   s1.right(3);
4System.assertEquals(
5   'Max', s2);

rightPad(Integer)

Returns the current String padded with spaces on the right and of the specified length.

Signature

public String rightPad(Integer length)

Parameters

length: Type: Integer; If length is less than or equal to the current String size, the entire String is returned without space padding.

Return Value

Type: String

Example

1String s1 = 'abc';
2String s2 = 
3   s1.rightPad(5);
4System.assertEquals(
5   'abc  ', s2);

split(String, Integer)

Returns a list that contains each substring of the String that is terminated by the regular expression regExp, or the end of the String.

Signature

public String[] split(String regExp, Integer limit)

Parameters

regExp: Type: String
limit: Type: Integer

Return Value

Type: String[]

Usage

See the Java Pattern class for information on regular expressions.

The substrings are placed in the list in the order in which they occur in the String.If regExp does not match any part of the String, the resulting list has just one element containing the original String.

The optional limit parameter controls the number of times the pattern is applied and therefore affects the length of the list:

If limit is greater than zero, the pattern is applied at most limit - 1 times, the list's length is no greater than limit, and the list's last entry contains all input beyond the last matched delimiter.
If limit is non-positive then the pattern is applied as many times as possible and the list can have any length.
If limit is zero then the pattern is applied as many times as possible, the list can have any length, and trailing empty strings are discarded.

For example, for String s = 'boo:and:foo':

s.split(':', 2) results in {'boo', 'and:foo'}
s.split(':', 5) results in {'boo', 'and', 'foo'}
s.split(':', -2) results in {'boo', 'and', 'foo'}
s.split('o', 5) results in {'b', '', ':and:f', '', ''}
s.split('o', -2) results in {'b', '', ':and:f', '', ''}
s.split('o', 0) results in {'b', '', ':and:f'}

Example

In the following example, a string is split, using a backslash as a delimiter.

1public String splitPath(String filename) {
2    if (filename == null)
3        return null;
4    List<String> parts = filename.split('\\\\');
5    filename = parts[parts.size()-1];
6    return filename;
7}
8
9// For example, if the file path is e:\\processed\\PPDSF100111.csv
10// This method splits the path and returns the last part.
11// Returned filename is PPDSF100111.csv

splitByCharacterType()

Splits the current String by character type and returns a list of contiguous character groups of the same type as complete tokens.

Signature

public List<String> splitByCharacterType()

Return Value

Type: List<String>

Usage

For more information about the character types used, see java.lang.Character.getType(char).

Example

1String s1 = 'Force.com platform';
2List<String> ls = 
3   s1.splitByCharacterType();
4System.debug(ls);
5// Writes this output:
6// (F, orce, ., com,  , platform)

splitByCharacterTypeCamelCase()

Splits the current String by character type and returns a list of contiguous character groups of the same type as complete tokens, with the following exception: the uppercase character, if any, immediately preceding a lowercase character token belongs to the following character token rather than to the preceding.

Signature

public List<String> splitByCharacterTypeCamelCase()

Return Value

Type: List<String>

Usage

For more information about the character types used, see java.lang.Character.getType(char).

Example

1String s1 = 'Force.com platform';
2List<String> ls = 
3   s1.splitByCharacterTypeCamelCase();
4System.debug(ls);
5// Writes this output:
6// (Force, ., com,  , platform)

startsWith(String)

Returns true if the String that called the method begins with the specified prefix.

Signature

public Boolean startsWith(String prefix)

Parameters

prefix: Type: String

Return Value

Type: Boolean

startsWithIgnoreCase(String)

Returns true if the current String begins with the specified prefix regardless of the prefix case.

Signature

public Boolean startsWithIgnoreCase(String prefix)

Parameters

prefix: Type: String

Return Value

Type: Boolean

stripHtmlTags(String)

Removes HTML markup from the input string and returns the plain text.

Signature

public String stripHtmlTags(String htmlInput)

Parameters

htmlInput: Type: String

Return Value

Type: String

Example

1String s1 = '<b>hello world</b>';
2String s2 = s1.stripHtmlTags();
3System.assertEquals(
4   'hello world', s2);

substring(Integer)

Returns a new String that begins with the character at the specified zero-based startIndex and extends to the end of the String.

Signature

public String substring(Integer startIndex)

Parameters

startIndex: Type: Integer

Return Value

Type: String

substring(Integer, Integer)

Returns a new String that begins with the character at the specified zero-based startIndex and extends to the character at endIndex - 1.

Signature

public String substring(Integer startIndex, Integer endIndex)

Parameters

startIndex: Type: Integer
endIndex: Type: Integer

Return Value

Type: String

Example

1'hamburger'.substring(4, 8); 
2// Returns "urge"
3
4'smiles'.substring(1, 5);
5// Returns "mile"

substringAfter(String)

Returns the substring that occurs after the first occurrence of the specified separator.

Signature

public String substringAfter(String separator)

Parameters

separator: Type: String

Return Value

Type: String

Example

1String s1 = 'Force.com.platform';
2String s2 = 
3   s1.substringAfter('.');
4System.assertEquals(
5   'com.platform', s2);

substringAfterLast(String)

Returns the substring that occurs after the last occurrence of the specified separator.

Signature

public String substringAfterLast(String separator)

Parameters

separator: Type: String

Return Value

Type: String

Example

1String s1 = 'Force.com.platform';
2String s2 = 
3   s1.substringAfterLast('.');
4System.assertEquals(
5   'platform', s2);

substringBefore(String)

Returns the substring that occurs before the first occurrence of the specified separator.

Signature

public String substringBefore(String separator)

Parameters

separator: Type: String

Return Value

Type: String

Example

1String s1 = 'Force.com.platform';
2String s2 = 
3   s1.substringBefore('.');
4System.assertEquals(
5   'Force', s2);

substringBeforeLast(String)

Returns the substring that occurs before the last occurrence of the specified separator.

Signature

public String substringBeforeLast(String separator)

Parameters

separator: Type: String

Return Value

Type: String

Example

1String s1 = 'Force.com.platform';
2String s2 = 
3   s1.substringBeforeLast('.');
4System.assertEquals(
5   'Force.com', s2);

substringBetween(String)

Returns the substring that occurs between two instances of the specified String.

Signature

public String substringBetween(String tag)

Parameters

tag: Type: String

Return Value

Type: String

Example

1String s1 = 'tagYellowtag';
2String s2 = 
3   s1.substringBetween('tag');
4System.assertEquals(
5   'Yellow', s2);

substringBetween(String, String)

Returns the substring that occurs between the two specified Strings.

Signature

public String substringBetween(String open, String close)

Parameters

open: Type: String
close: Type: String

Return Value

Type: String

Example

1String s1 = 'xYellowy';
2String s2 = 
3   s1.substringBetween('x','y');
4System.assertEquals(
5   'Yellow', s2);

swapCase(String, String)

Swaps the case of all characters and returns the resulting String.

Signature

public String swapCase(String open, String close)

Parameters

open: Type: String
close: Type: String

Return Value

Type: String

Usage

Upper case and title case converts to lower case, and lower case converts to upper case.

Example

1String s1 = 'Force.com';
2String s2 = 
3   s1.swapCase();
4System.assertEquals(
5   'fORCE.COM', s2);

toLowerCase()

Converts all of the characters in the String to lowercase using the rules of the default locale.

Signature

public String toLowerCase()

Return Value

Type: String

toLowerCase(String)

Converts all of the characters in the String to lowercase using the rules of the specified locale.

Signature

public String toLowerCase(String locale)

Parameters

locale: Type: String

Return Value

Type: String

toUpperCase()

Converts all of the characters in the String to uppercase using the rules of the default locale.

Signature

public String toUpperCase()

Return Value

Type: String

Example

1String myString1 = 'abcd';
2String myString2 = 'ABCD';
3myString1 = 
4   myString1.toUpperCase();
5Boolean result = 
6   myString1.equals(myString2);
7System.assertEquals(result, true);

toUpperCase(String)

Converts all of the characters in the String to the uppercase using the rules of the specified locale.

Signature

public String toUpperCase(String locale)

Parameters

locale: Type: String

Return Value

Type: String

trim()

Returns a copy of the string that no longer contains any leading or trailing white space characters.

Signature

public String trim()

Return Value

Type: String

Usage

Leading and trailing ASCII control characters such as tabs and newline characters are also removed. White space and control characters that aren’t at the beginning or end of the sentence aren’t removed.

uncapitalize()

Returns the current String with the first letter in lowercase.

Signature

public String uncapitalize()

Return Value

Type: String

Example

1String s1 = 
2   'Hello max';
3String s2 = 
4   s1.uncapitalize();
5System.assertEquals(
6   'hello max', 
7    s2);

unescapeCsv()

Returns a String representing an unescaped CSV column.

Signature

public String unescapeCsv()

Return Value

Type: String

Usage

If the String is enclosed in double quotes and contains a comma, newline or double quote, quotes are removed. Also, any double quote escaped characters (a pair of double quotes) are unescaped to just one double quote.

If the String is not enclosed in double quotes, or is and does not contain a comma, newline or double quote, it is returned unchanged.

Example

1String s1 = 
2   '"Max1, ""Max2"""';
3String s2 = 
4   s1.unescapeCsv();
5System.assertEquals(
6   'Max1, "Max2"', 
7    s2);

unescapeEcmaScript()

Unescapes any EcmaScript literals found in the String.

Signature

public String unescapeEcmaScript()

Return Value

Type: String

Example

1String s1 = 
2   '\"3.8\",\"3.9\"';
3String s2 = 
4   s1.unescapeEcmaScript();
5System.assertEquals(
6   '"3.8","3.9"',
7   s2);

unescapeHtml3()

Unescapes the characters in a String using HTML 3.0 entities.

Signature

public String unescapeHtml3()

Return Value

Type: String

Example

1String s1 = 
2   '&quot;&lt;Black&amp;White&gt;&quot;';
3String s2 = 
4   s1.unescapeHtml3();
5System.assertEquals(
6   '"<Black&White>"',
7   s2);

unescapeHtml4()

Unescapes the characters in a String using HTML 4.0 entities.

Signature

public String unescapeHtml4()

Return Value

Type: String

Usage

If an entity isn’t recognized, it is kept as is in the returned string.

Example

1String s1 = 
2   '&quot;&lt;Black&amp;White&gt;&quot;';
3String s2 = 
4   s1.unescapeHtml4();
5System.assertEquals(
6   '"<Black&White>"',
7   s2);

unescapeJava()

Returns a String whose Java literals are unescaped. Literals unescaped include escape sequences for quotes (\\") and control characters, such as tab (\\t), and carriage return (\\n).

Signature

public String unescapeJava()

Return Value

Type: String

The unescaped string.

Example

1String s = 'Company: \\"Salesforce.com\\"';
2String unescapedStr = s.unescapeJava();
3System.assertEquals('Company: "Salesforce.com"', unescapedStr);

unescapeUnicode()

Returns a String whose escaped Unicode characters are unescaped.

Signature

public String unescapeUnicode()

Return Value

Type: String

The unescaped string.

Example

1String s = 'De onde voc\\u00EA \\u00E9?';
2String unescapedStr = s.unescapeUnicode();
3System.assertEquals('De onde você é?', unescapedStr);

unescapeXml()

Unescapes the characters in a String using XML entities.

Signature

public String unescapeXml()

Return Value

Type: String

Usage

Supports only the five basic XML entities (gt, lt, quot, amp, apos). Does not support DTDs or external entities.

Example

1String s1 = 
2   '&quot;&lt;Black&amp;White&gt;&quot;';
3String s2 = 
4   s1.unescapeXml();
5System.assertEquals(
6   '"<Black&White>"',
7   s2);

valueOf(Date)

Returns a String that represents the specified Date in the standard “yyyy-MM-dd” format.

Signature

public static String valueOf(Date dateToConvert)

Parameters

dateToConvert: Type: Date

Return Value

Type: String

Example

1Date myDate = Date.Today();
2String sDate = String.valueOf(myDate);

valueOf(Datetime)

Returns a String that represents the specified Datetime in the standard “yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss” format for the local time zone.

Signature

public static String valueOf(Datetime datetimeToConvert)

Parameters

datetimeToConvert: Type: Datetime

Return Value

Type: String

valueOf(Decimal)

Returns a String that represents the specified Decimal.

Signature

public static String valueOf(Decimal decimalToConvert)

Parameters

decimalToConvert: Type: Decimal

Return Value

Type: String

valueOf(Double)

Returns a String that represents the specified Double.

Signature

public static String valueOf(Double doubleToConvert)

Parameters

doubleToConvert: Type: Double

Return Value

Type: String

Example

1Double myDouble = 12.34;
2String myString = 
3   String.valueOf(myDouble);
4System.assertEquals(
5  '12.34', myString);

valueOf(Integer)

Returns a String that represents the specified Integer.

Signature

public static String valueOf(Integer integerToConvert)

Parameters

integerToConvert: Type: Integer

Return Value

Type: String

valueOf(Long)

Returns a String that represents the specified Long.

Signature

public static String valueOf(Long longToConvert)

Parameters

longToConvert: Type: Long

Return Value

Type: String

valueOf(Object)

Returns a string representation of the specified object argument.

Signature

public static String valueOf(Object toConvert)

Parameters

toConvert: Type: Object

Return Value

Type: String

Usage

If the argument is not a String, the valueOf method converts it into a String by calling the toString method on the argument, if available, or any overridden toString method if the argument is a user-defined type. Otherwise, if no toString method is available, it returns a String representation of the argument.

Example

1List<Integer> ls = 
2  new List<Integer>();
3ls.add(10);
4ls.add(20);
5String strList = 
6   String.valueOf(ls);
7System.assertEquals(
8  '(10, 20)', strList);

valueOfGmt(Datetime)

Returns a String that represents the specified Datetime in the standard “yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss” format for the GMT time zone.

Signature

public static String valueOfGmt(Datetime datetimeToConvert)

Parameters

datetimeToConvert: Type: Datetime

Return Value

Type: String

Force.com Apex Code Developer's Guide

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String Class

Namespace

Usage

String Methods

abbreviate(Integer)

Signature

Parameters

Return Value

Example

abbreviate(Integer, Integer)

Signature

Parameters

Return Value

Example

capitalize()

Signature

Return Value

Usage

Example

center(Integer)

Signature

Parameters

Return Value

Example

center(Integer, String)

Signature

Parameters

Return Value

Example

compareTo(String)

Signature

Parameters

Return Value

Usage

Example

contains(String)

Signature

Parameters

Return Value

Example

containsAny(String)

Signature

Parameters

Return Value

Example

containsIgnoreCase(String)

Signature

Parameters

Return Value

Example

containsNone(String)

Signature

Parameters

Return Value

containsOnly(String)

Signature

Parameters

Return Value

Example

containsWhitespace()

Signature

Return Value

countMatches(String)

Signature

Parameters

Return Value

deleteWhitespace()

Signature

Return Value

difference(String)

Signature

Parameters

Return Value

Example

endsWith(String)

Signature

Parameters

Return Value