TStrings class

In unit Classes

Class to manage arrays or collections of strings.

Declaration

pascal

TStrings = class(TPersistent)

Inheritance

TStrings
TPersistent
TObject

Descends from it: TCustomMemoStrings TNBBasePages TStringGridStrings TStringList TTabControlStrings TUNBPages

Description

TStrings implements an abstract class to manage an array of strings. It introduces methods to set and retrieve strings in the array, searching for a particular string, concatenating the strings and so on. It also allows an arbitrary object to be associated with each string.

It also introduces methods to manage a series of name=value settings, as found in many configuration files.

An instance of TStrings is never created directly, instead a descendant class such as TStringList should be created. This is because TStrings is an abstract class which does not implement all methods; TStrings also doesn't store any strings, this is the functionality introduced in descendants such as TStringList.

TStrings implements the IFPObserved interface: when the stringlist is changed, a ooChanged notification is sent to all observers.

Properties

`UpdateCount`	protected
`AlwaysQuote`	public	Always quote strings in DelimitedText.
`Capacity`	public	Capacity of the list, i.e. number of strings that the list can currently hold before it tries to expand.
`CommaText`	public	Contents of the list as a comma-separated string.
`Count`	public	Number of strings in the list.
`DefaultEncoding`	public	Default encoding of stringlist.
`DelimitedText`	public	Get or set all strings in the list in a delimited form.
`Delimiter`	public	Delimiter character used in DelimitedText.
`Encoding`	public	Current encoding of stringlist.
`LineBreak`	public	LineBreak character to use.
`MissingNameValueSeparatorAction`	public	What to do if NameValueSeparator is missing in a string.
`Names`	public	Name parts of the name-value pairs in the list.
`NameValueSeparator`	public	Value of the character used to separate name,value pairs.
`Objects`	public	Indexed access to the objects associated with the strings in the list.
`Options`	public	A set of - various boolean properties.
`QuoteChar`	public	Quote character used in DelimitedText.
`SkipLastLineBreak`	public	Do not add a linebreak to the last item.
`TrailingLineBreak`	public	Add a linebreak to the last item.
`StrictDelimiter`	public	Should only the delimiter character be considered a delimiter.
`Strings`	public	Indexed access to the strings in the list.
`StringsAdapter`	public	Not implemented in Free Pascal.
`Text`	public	Contents of the list as one big string.
`TextLineBreakStyle`	public	Determines which line breaks to use in the Text property.
`UseLocale`	public	Determines what methods are used in strings comparison.
`ValueFromIndex`	public	Return the value part of a string based on it's index.
`Values`	public	Value parts of the name-value pairs in the list.
`WriteBOM`	public	Write BOM when writing stringlist to stream.

Methods

`CompareStrings`	protected
`DefineProperties`	protected	Method to stream the contents of the string collection.
`Error`	protected	Raises an exception.
`Get`	protected	Abstract read handler for the property.
`GetCapacity`	protected	Abstract Read handler for the property.
`GetCount`	protected	Abstract read handler for the property.
`GetObject`	protected	Abstract read handler for the property.
`GetTextStr`	protected	Read handler for the property.
`Put`	protected	Write handler for the property.
`PutObject`	protected	Write handler for the property.
`SetCapacity`	protected	Write handler for the property.
`SetTextStr`	protected	Write handler for the property.
`SetUpdateState`	protected	Sets the update state.
`DoCompareText`	protected
`GetDelimitedText`	protected
`SetDelimitedText`	protected
`GetValueFromIndex`	protected
`SetValueFromIndex`	protected
`CheckSpecialChars`	protected
`GetNextLine`	protected
`GetNextLinebreak`	protected
`Create`	public	Initializ a new TStrings instance.
`Destroy`	public	Frees all strings and objects, and removes the list from memory.
`ToObjectArray`	public	Return the objects as an array of object.
`ToStringArray`	public	Return the strings as an array of string.
`Add`	public	Add a string to the list.
`AddObject`	public	Add a string and associated object to the list.
`AddPair`	public	Add a name-value pair.
`AddStrings`	public	Add contents of another stringlist to this list.
`SetStrings`	public	Replace the strings with the passed strings.
`AddText`	public	Add text to the string list.
`AddCommaText`	public	Adds a comma-separated list of strings.
`AddDelimitedtext`	public	Adds a separator-delimited list of strings.
`Append`	public	Add a string to the list.
`Assign`	public	Assign the contents of another stringlist to this one.
`BeginUpdate`	public	Mark the beginning of an update batch.
`Clear`	public	Removes all strings and associated objects from the list.
`Delete`	public	Delete a string from the list.
`EndUpdate`	public	Mark the end of an update batch.
`Equals`	public	Compares the contents of two stringlists.
`Exchange`	public	Exchanges two strings in the list.
`ExtractName`	public	Extract the name part of a string.
`Filter`	public	Return a filtered list.
`Fill`	public	Set a range of strings in the list to the specified value.
`ForEach`	public	Call a callback for each string in the list.
`GetEnumerator`	public	Create an IEnumerator instance.
`GetNameValue`	public	Return both name and value of a name,value pair based on it's index.
`GetText`	public	Returns the contents as a PChar.
`Contains`	public
`ContainsObject`	public
`IndexOf`	public	Find a string in the list and return its position.
`ContainsName`	public
`IndexOfName`	public	Finds the index of a name in the name-value pairs.
`IndexOfObject`	public	Finds an object in the list and returns its index.
`Insert`	public	Insert a string in the list.
`InsertObject`	public	Insert a string and associated object in the list.
`LastIndexOf`	public	Return the index of the last occurrence of a string.
`LoadFromFile`	public	Load the contents of a file as a series of strings.
`LoadFromStream`	public	Load the contents of a stream as a series of strings.
`Map`	public	Call a map routine for each string in the list.
`Move`	public	Move a string from one place in the list to another.
`Pop`	public	Remove the last string of the list and return it.
`Reduce`	public	Get a reduced value from the string list.
`Reverse`	public	Reverse the order of the strings in the list.
`SaveToFile`	public	Save the contents of the list to a file.
`SaveToStream`	public	Save the contents of the string to a stream.
`Shift`	public	Return and remove the first string in the list.
`Slice`	public	Return a subrange of strings starting at a given index.
`SetText`	public	Set the contents of the list from a PChar.

Inherited

From TPersistent (6)

AssignTo FPOAttachObserver FPODetachObserver FPONotifyObservers GetNamePath GetOwner

From TObject (39)

AfterConstruction BeforeDestruction CheckDisposed ClassInfo ClassName ClassNameIs ClassParent ClassType CleanupInstance DefaultHandler DefaultHandlerStr Dispatch DispatchStr Disposed DisposeOf FieldAddress Free FreeInstance GetDisposed GetHashCode GetInterface GetInterfaceByStr GetInterfaceEntry GetInterfaceEntryByStr GetInterfaceTable GetInterfaceWeak GetLastCastErrorInfo InheritsFrom InitInstance InstanceSize MethodAddress MethodName newinstance QualifiedClassName SafeCallException StringMessageTable SystemHasExtendedRTTI ToString UnitName

An experiment, built from development snapshots. Not the official Free Pascal or Lazarus documentation.