LessonsBeginner: First stepsLesson 15

Changing text

Put new text into a chunk, add before and after it, delete it, replace every copy of something, and change case.

  • Beginner
  • Lesson 15 of 83
  • About 8 minutes
  • 6 examples

Put into a chunk

Chunks are not only for reading. You can put text into a chunk to replace it, or before or after it to add to it, and xTalk changes just that piece of the variable.

ExampleRun it in the playground
put "I like cats" into tText
put "dogs" into word 3 of tText
put tText
put "really " before word 2 of tText
put "!" after tText
put tText
put "Y" into char 1 of tText
put tText
Output
I like dogs
I really like dogs!
Y really like dogs!

Lists grow to fit

Put something into an item or line that does not exist yet, and xTalk adds the separators needed to reach it.

ExampleRun it in the playground
put "a,b" into tList
put "e" into item 5 of tList
put tList
put "first" into line 3 of tLines
put the number of lines of tLines
Output
a,b,,,e
3

Delete a chunk

delete removes a chunk, and the separator with it, so a list stays a tidy list.

ExampleRun it in the playground
put "I really like dogs!" into tText
delete word 2 of tText
put tText
put "red,green,blue" into tColours
delete item 2 of tColours
put tColours
put "Hello" into tWord
delete the first char of tWord
put tWord
Output
I like dogs!
red,blue
ello

Replace every copy

replace changes every copy of one string into another, all through a variable or a field.

ExampleRun it in the playground
put "the cat sat on the mat" into tText
replace "at" with "og" in tText
put tText
put "1,234,567" into tNumber
replace comma with empty in tNumber
put tNumber + 1
Output
the cog sog on the mog
1234568

Capitals

toUpper and toLower give a copy of a string in capitals or in small letters. They know the accented letters of other languages too, though a letter with no single capital, like the German ß, stays as it is.

ExampleRun it in the playground
put toUpper("shout") && toLower("QUIET")
put toUpper("café") && toLower("ÉCOLE") && toUpper("straße")
put "ada" into tName
put toUpper(char 1 of tName) into char 1 of tName
put tName
Output
SHOUT quiet
CAFÉ école STRAßE
Ada

Try it yourself

Take the quick brown fox and give every word a capital first letter, so it reads The Quick Brown Fox.

Show a solution
ExampleRun it in the playground
put "the quick brown fox" into tText
repeat with i = 1 to the number of words of tText
   put toUpper(char 1 of word i of tText) into char 1 of word i of tText
end repeat
put tText
Output
The Quick Brown Fox

Words in this lesson

put intoput beforeput afterdeletereplacetoUppertoLower

Each one finds every lesson that uses it. The Dictionary has the whole story of each, with its syntax and more examples.