struct Char

Overview

A Char represents a Unicode code point. It occupies 32 bits.

It is created by enclosing an UTF-8 character in single quotes.

'a'
'z'
'0'
'_'
'あ'

You can use a backslash to denote some characters:

'\'' # single quote
'\\' # backslash
'\e' # escape
'\f' # form feed
'\n' # newline
'\r' # carriage return
'\t' # tab
'\v' # vertical tab

You can use a backslash followed by an u and four hexadecimal characters to denote a unicode codepoint written:

'\u0041' # == 'A'

Or you can use curly braces and specify up to four hexadecimal numbers:

'\u{41}' # == 'A'

Included Modules

Defined in:

char.cr
char/reader.cr
primitives.cr

Constant Summary

MAX = 1114111.unsafe_chr

The maximum character.

MAX_CODEPOINT = 1114111

The maximum valid codepoint for a character.

REPLACEMENT = '�'

The replacement character, used on invalid UTF-8 byte sequences.

ZERO = '\u{0}'

The character representing the end of a C string.

Instance Method Summary

Instance methods inherited from module Comparable(Char)

<(other : T) <, <=(other : T) <=, <=>(other : T) <=>, ==(other : T) ==, >(other : T) >, >=(other : T) >=, clamp(min, max)
clamp(range : Range)
clamp

Instance methods inherited from struct Value

==(other : JSON::Any)
==(other : YAML::Any)
==(other)
==
, dup dup

Instance methods inherited from class Object

! : Bool !, !=(other) !=, !~(other) !~, ==(other) ==, ===(other : JSON::Any)
===(other : YAML::Any)
===(other)
===
, =~(other) =~, as(type : Class) as, as?(type : Class) as?, class class, dup dup, hash
hash(hasher)
hash
, inspect(io : IO) : Nil
inspect : String
inspect
, is_a?(type : Class) : Bool is_a?, itself itself, nil? : Bool nil?, not_nil! not_nil!, pretty_inspect(width = 79, newline = "\n", indent = 0) : String pretty_inspect, pretty_print(pp : PrettyPrint) : Nil pretty_print, responds_to?(name : Symbol) : Bool responds_to?, tap(&) tap, to_json(io : IO)
to_json
to_json
, to_pretty_json(indent : String = " ")
to_pretty_json(io : IO, indent : String = " ")
to_pretty_json
, to_s : String
to_s(io : IO) : Nil
to_s
, to_yaml(io : IO)
to_yaml
to_yaml
, try(&) try, unsafe_as(type : T.class) forall T unsafe_as

Class methods inherited from class Object

from_json(string_or_io, root : String)
from_json(string_or_io)
from_json
, from_yaml(string_or_io : String | IO) from_yaml

Instance Method Detail

def !=(other : Char) : Bool #

Returns true if self's codepoint is not equal to other's codepoint.


[View source]
def +(str : String) #

Concatenates this char and string.

'f' + "oo" # => "foo"

[View source]
def +(other : Int) : Char #

Returns a char that has this char's codepoint plus other.

'a' + 1 # => 'b'
'a' + 2 # => 'c'

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def -(other : Char) #

Returns the difference of the codepoint values of this char and other.

'a' - 'a' # => 0
'b' - 'a' # => 1
'c' - 'a' # => 2

[View source]
def -(other : Int) : Char #

Returns a char that has this char's codepoint minus other.

'c' - 1 # => 'b'
'c' - 2 # => 'a'

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def <(other : Char) : Bool #

Returns true if self's codepoint is less than other's codepoint.


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def <=(other : Char) : Bool #

Returns true if self's codepoint is less than or equal to other's codepoint.


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def <=>(other : Char) #

The comparison operator.

Returns the difference of the codepoint values of self and other. The result is either negative, 0 or positive based on whether other's codepoint is less, equal, or greater than self's codepoint.

'a' <=> 'c' # => -2
'z' <=> 'z' # => 0
'c' <=> 'a' # => 2

[View source]
def ==(other : Char) : Bool #

Returns true if self's codepoint is equal to other's codepoint.


[View source]
def ===(byte : Int) #

Returns true if the codepoint is equal to byte ignoring the type.

'c'.ord       # => 99
'c' === 99_u8 # => true
'c' === 99    # => true
'z' === 99    # => false

[View source]
def >(other : Char) : Bool #

Returns true if self's codepoint is greater than other's codepoint.


[View source]
def >=(other : Char) : Bool #

Returns true if self's codepoint is greater than or equal to other's codepoint.


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def alphanumeric? #

Returns true if this char is a letter or a number according to unicode.

'c'.alphanumeric? # => true
'8'.alphanumeric? # => true
'.'.alphanumeric? # => false

[View source]
def ascii? #

Returns true if this char is an ASCII character (codepoint is in (0..127))


[View source]
def ascii_alphanumeric? #

Returns true if this char is an ASCII letter or number ('0' to '9', 'a' to 'z', 'A' to 'Z').

'c'.ascii_alphanumeric? # => true
'8'.ascii_alphanumeric? # => true
'.'.ascii_alphanumeric? # => false

[View source]
def ascii_control? #

Returns true if this char is an ASCII control character.

('\u0000'..'\u0019').each do |char|
  char.control? # => true
end

('\u007F'..'\u009F').each do |char|
  char.control? # => true
end

[View source]
def ascii_letter? #

Returns true if this char is an ASCII letter ('a' to 'z', 'A' to 'Z').

'c'.ascii_letter? # => true
'á'.ascii_letter? # => false
'8'.ascii_letter? # => false

[View source]
def ascii_lowercase? #

Returns true if this char is a lowercase ASCII letter.

'c'.ascii_lowercase? # => true
'ç'.lowercase?       # => true
'G'.ascii_lowercase? # => false
'.'.ascii_lowercase? # => false

[View source]
def ascii_number?(base : Int = 10) #

Returns true if this char is an ASCII number in specified base.

Base can be from 0 to 36 with digits from '0' to '9' and 'a' to 'z' or 'A' to 'Z'.

'4'.ascii_number?     # => true
'z'.ascii_number?     # => false
'z'.ascii_number?(36) # => true

[View source]
def ascii_uppercase? #

Returns true if this char is an ASCII uppercase letter.

'H'.ascii_uppercase? # => true
'Á'.ascii_uppercase? # => false
'c'.ascii_uppercase? # => false
'.'.ascii_uppercase? # => false

[View source]
def ascii_whitespace? #

Returns true if this char is an ASCII whitespace.

' '.ascii_whitespace?  # => true
'\t'.ascii_whitespace? # => true
'b'.ascii_whitespace?  # => false

[View source]
def bytes #

Returns this char bytes as encoded by UTF-8, as an Array(UInt8).

'a'.bytes # => [97]
'あ'.bytes # => [227, 129, 130]

[View source]
def bytesize #

Returns the number of UTF-8 bytes in this char.

'a'.bytesize # => 1
'好'.bytesize # => 3

[View source]
def clone #

[View source]
def control? #

Returns true if this char is a control character according to unicode.


[View source]
def downcase(options = Unicode::CaseOptions::None) #

Returns the downcase equivalent of this char.

Note that this only works for characters whose downcase equivalent yields a single codepoint. There are a few characters, like 'İ', than when downcased result in multiple characters (in this case: 'I' and the dot mark).

For a more correct method see the method that receives a block.

'Z'.downcase # => 'z'
'x'.downcase # => 'x'
'.'.downcase # => '.'

[View source]
def downcase(options = Unicode::CaseOptions::None, &) #

Yields each char for the downcase equivalent of this char.

This method takes into account the possibility that an downcase version of a char might result in multiple chars, like for 'İ', which results in 'i' and a dot mark.


[View source]
def dump #

Returns this char as a string that contains a char literal as written in Crystal, with characters with a codepoint greater than 0x79 written as \u{...}.

'a'.dump      # => "'a'"
'\t'.dump     # => "'\\t'"
'あ'.dump      # => "'\\u{3042}'"
'\u0012'.dump # => "'\\u{12}'"

[View source]
def dump(io) #

Appends this char as a string that contains a char literal to the given IO.

See also: #dump.


[View source]
def each_byte(&) : Nil #

Yields each of the bytes of this char as encoded by UTF-8.

puts "'a'"
'a'.each_byte do |byte|
  puts byte
end
puts

puts "'あ'"
'あ'.each_byte do |byte|
  puts byte
end

Output:

'a'
97

'あ'
227
129
130

[View source]
def hash(hasher) #

[View source]
def hex? #

Returns true if this char is an ASCII hex digit ('0' to '9', 'a' to 'f', 'A' to 'F').

'5'.hex? # => true
'a'.hex? # => true
'F'.hex? # => true
'g'.hex? # => false

[View source]
def in_set?(*sets : String) #

Returns true if this char is matched by the given sets.

Each parameter defines a set, the character is matched against the intersection of those, in other words it needs to match all sets.

If a set starts with a ^, it is negated. The sequence c1-c2 means all characters between and including c1 and c2 and is known as a range.

The backslash character \ can be used to escape ^ or - and is otherwise ignored unless it appears at the end of a range or set.

'l'.in_set? "lo"          # => true
'l'.in_set? "lo", "o"     # => false
'l'.in_set? "hello", "^l" # => false
'l'.in_set? "j-m"         # => true

'^'.in_set? "\\^aeiou" # => true
'-'.in_set? "a\\-eo"   # => true

'\\'.in_set? "\\"    # => true
'\\'.in_set? "\\A"   # => false
'\\'.in_set? "X-\\w" # => true

[View source]
def inspect : String #

Returns this char as a string that contains a char literal.

'a'.inspect      # => "'a'"
'\t'.inspect     # => "'\\t'"
'あ'.inspect      # => "'あ'"
'\u0012'.inspect # => "'\\u{12}'"

[View source]
def inspect(io : IO) : Nil #

Appends this char as a string that contains a char literal to the given IO.

See also: #inspect.


[View source]
def letter? #

Returns true if this char is a letter.

'c'.letter? # => true
'á'.letter? # => true
'8'.letter? # => false

[View source]
def lowercase? #

Returns true if this char is a lowercase letter.

'c'.lowercase? # => true
'ç'.lowercase? # => true
'G'.lowercase? # => false
'.'.lowercase? # => false

[View source]
def mark? #

Returns true if this is char is a mark character according to unicode.


[View source]
def number? #

Returns true if this char is a number according to unicode.

'1'.number? # => true
'a'.number? # => false

[View source]
def ord : Int32 #

Returns the codepoint of this char.

The codepoint is the integer representation. The Universal Coded Character Set (UCS) standard, commonly known as Unicode, assigns names and meanings to numbers, these numbers are called codepoints.

For values below and including 127 this matches the ASCII codes and thus its byte representation.

'a'.ord      # => 97
'\0'.ord     # => 0
'\u007f'.ord # => 127
'☃'.ord      # => 9731

[View source]
def pred #

Returns a Char that is one codepoint smaller than this char's codepoint.

'b'.pred # => 'a'
'ぃ'.pred # => 'あ'

[View source]
def succ #

Returns a Char that is one codepoint bigger than this char's codepoint.

'a'.succ # => 'b'
'あ'.succ # => 'ぃ'

This method allows creating a Range of chars.


[View source]
def to_f #

Returns the integer value of this char as a float if it's an ASCII char denoting a digit, raises otherwise.

'1'.to_f # => 1.0
'8'.to_f # => 8.0
'c'.to_f # raises ArgumentError

[View source]
def to_f32 #

See also: #to_f.


[View source]
def to_f32? #

See also: #to_f?.


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def to_f64 #

Same as #to_f.


[View source]
def to_f64? #

Same as #to_f?.


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def to_f? #

Returns the integer value of this char as a float if it's an ASCII char denoting a digit, nil otherwise.

'1'.to_f? # => 1.0
'8'.to_f? # => 8.0
'c'.to_f? # => nil

[View source]
def to_i(base : Int = 10) : Int32 #

Returns the integer value of this char if it's an ASCII char denoting a digit in base, raises otherwise.

'1'.to_i     # => 1
'8'.to_i     # => 8
'c'.to_i     # raises ArgumentError
'1'.to_i(16) # => 1
'a'.to_i(16) # => 10
'f'.to_i(16) # => 15
'z'.to_i(16) # raises ArgumentError

[View source]
def to_i16(base : Int = 10) #

See also: #to_i.


[View source]
def to_i16?(base : Int = 10) #

See also: #to_i?.


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def to_i32(base : Int = 10) : Int32 #

Same as #to_i.


[View source]
def to_i32?(base : Int = 10) : Int32? #

Same as #to_i?.


[View source]
def to_i64(base : Int = 10) #

See also: #to_i.


[View source]
def to_i64?(base : Int = 10) #

See also: #to_i?.


[View source]
def to_i8(base : Int = 10) #

See also: #to_i.


[View source]
def to_i8?(base : Int = 10) #

See also: #to_i?.


[View source]
def to_i?(base : Int = 10) : Int32? #

Returns the integer value of this char if it's an ASCII char denoting a digit in base, nil otherwise.

'1'.to_i?     # => 1
'8'.to_i?     # => 8
'c'.to_i?     # => nil
'1'.to_i?(16) # => 1
'a'.to_i?(16) # => 10
'f'.to_i?(16) # => 15
'z'.to_i?(16) # => nil

[View source]
def to_s : String #

Returns this char as a string containing this char as a single character.

'a'.to_s # => "a"
'あ'.to_s # => "あ"

[View source]
def to_s(io : IO) : Nil #

Appends this char to the given IO.

This appends this char's bytes as encoded by UTF-8 to the given IO.


[View source]
def to_u16(base : Int = 10) #

See also: #to_i.


[View source]
def to_u16?(base : Int = 10) #

See also: #to_i?.


[View source]
def to_u32(base : Int = 10) #

See also: #to_i.


[View source]
def to_u32?(base : Int = 10) #

See also: #to_i?.


[View source]
def to_u64(base : Int = 10) #

See also: #to_i.


[View source]
def to_u64?(base : Int = 10) #

See also: #to_i?.


[View source]
def to_u8(base : Int = 10) #

See also: #to_i.


[View source]
def to_u8?(base : Int = 10) #

See also: #to_i?.


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def upcase(options = Unicode::CaseOptions::None, &) #

Yields each char for the upcase equivalent of this char.

This method takes into account the possibility that an upcase version of a char might result in multiple chars, like for 'ffl', which results in 'F', 'F' and 'L'.

'z'.upcase { |v| puts v } # prints 'Z'
'ffl'.upcase { |v| puts v } # prints 'F', 'F', 'L'

[View source]
def upcase(options = Unicode::CaseOptions::None) #

Returns the upcase equivalent of this char.

Note that this only works for characters whose upcase equivalent yields a single codepoint. There are a few characters, like 'ffl', than when upcased result in multiple characters (in this case: 'F', 'F', 'L').

For a more correct method see the method that receives a block.

'z'.upcase # => 'Z'
'X'.upcase # => 'X'
'.'.upcase # => '.'

[View source]
def uppercase? #

Returns true if this char is an uppercase letter.

'H'.uppercase? # => true
'Á'.uppercase? # => true
'c'.uppercase? # => false
'.'.uppercase? # => false

[View source]
def whitespace? #

Returns true if this char is a whitespace according to unicode.

' '.whitespace?  # => true
'\t'.whitespace? # => true
'b'.whitespace?  # => false

[View source]