# StringHandling routine The StringHandling routine contains several functions which allow you to carry out various kinds of operations and tests on alphanumeric expressions, based on Java methods. You can access these functions by double-clicking the StringHandling node under the system routines folder in the Repository tree view. Functions of the StringHandling routineFunctions of the StringHandlingStringHandling routine | Function | Description | Syntax | | --- | --- | --- | | ALPHA | Checks whether the expression is arranged in alphabetical order.
Returns the true or false boolean
accordingly. | StringHandling.ALPHA("string to be checked") | | IS\_ALPHA | Checks whether the expression contains alphabetical characters only,
or otherwise. Returns the true or
false boolean accordingly. | StringHandling.IS\_ALPHA("string to be checked") | | CHANGE | Replaces an element of a string with a defined replacement element
and returns the new string. | StringHandling.CHANGE("string to be checked", "string to be
replaced","replacement string") | | COUNT | Returns the number of times a substring occurs within a string. | StringHandling.COUNT("string to be checked", "substring to be
counted") | | DOWNCASE | Converts all uppercase letters in an expression into lowercase and
returns the new string. | StringHandling.DOWNCASE("string to be converted") | | UPCASE | Converts all lowercase letters in an expression into uppercase and
returns the new string. | StringHandling.UPCASE("string to be converted") | | DQUOTE | Encloses an expression in double quotation marks. | StringHandling.DQUOTE("string to be enclosed in double
quotation marks") | | EREPLACE | Substitutes all substrings that match the given regular expression in
the given old string with the given replacement and returns a new
string. | StringHandling.EREPLACE(oldStr, regex, replacement) | | INDEX | Returns the position of the first character in a specified substring,
within a whole string. If the substring specified does not exist in
the whole string, the value -1 is returned. | StringHandling.INDEX("string to be checked", "substring
specified") | | LEFT | Specifies a substring which corresponds to the first n characters in
a string. | StringHandling.LEFT("string to be checked", number of
characters) | | RIGHT | Specifies a substring which corresponds to the last n characters in a
string. | StringHandling.RIGHT("string to be checked", number of
characters) | | LEN | Calculates the length of a string. | StringHandling.LEN("string to check") | | SPACE | Generates a string consisting of a specified number of blank
spaces. | StringHandling.SPACE(number of blank spaces to be
generated) | | SQUOTE | Encloses an expression in single quotation marks. | StringHandling.SQUOTE("string to be enclosed in single
quotation marks") | | STR | Generates a particular character a the number of times specified. | StringHandling.STR('character to be generated', number of
times) | | TRIM | Deletes the spaces and tabs before the first non-blank character in a
string and after the last non-blank character, then returns the new
string. | StringHandling.TRIM("string to be checked") | | BTRIM | Deletes all the spaces and tabs after the last non-blank character in
a string and returns the new string. | StringHandling.BTRIM("string to be checked") | | FTRIM | Deletes all the spaces and tabs preceding the first non-blank
character in a string. | StringHandling.FTRIM("string to be checked") | | SUBSTR | Returns a portion of a string. It counts all characters, including
blanks, starting at the beginning of the string. | StringHandling.SUBSTR(string, start, length)

string: the character string you want to search.
start: the position in the string where you want to start counting.
length: the number of characters you want to return.

| | LTRIM | Removes blanks or characters from the beginning of a string. | StringHandling.LTRIM(string[, trim\_set])

string: the string you want to change.
trim_set: the characters you want to remove from the beginning of the string. LTRIM will compare the trim_set to the string character-by-character, starting with the left side of the string, and remove characters until it fails to find a matching character in the trim_set. If this parameter is not specified, LTRIM will remove any blanks from the beginning of the string.

| | RTRIM | Removes blanks or characters from the end of a string. | StringHandling.RTRIM(string[, trim\_set])

string: the string you want to change.
trim_set: the characters you want to remove from the ending of the string. RTRIM will compare the trim_set to the string character-by-character, starting with the right side of the string, and remove characters until it fails to find a matching character in the trim_set. If this parameter is not specified, RTRIM will remove any blanks from the ending of the string.

| | LPAD | Converts a string to a specified length by adding blanks or
characters to the beginning of the string. | StringHandling.LPAD(first\_string, length[,
second\_string])

first_string: the string you want to change.
length: the length you want the string to be after being padded.
second_string: the characters you want to append to the left side of the first_string.

| | RPAD | Converts a string to a specified length by adding blanks or
characters to the end of the string. | StringHandling.RPAD(first\_string, length[,
second\_string])

first_string: the string you want to change.
length: the length you want the string to be after being padded.
second_string: the characters you want to append to the right side of the first_string.

| | INSTR | Returns the position of a character set in a string, counting from
left to right and starting from 1.

Note that it returns 0 if the search is unsuccessful
and NULL if the search value is NULL. | StringHandling.INSTR(string, search\_value, start,
occurrence)

string: the string you want to search.
search_value: the set of characters you want to search for.
start: the position in the string where you want to start the search. The default is 1, meaning it starts the search from the first character in the string.
occurrence: the occurrence you want to search for.

For example, StringHandling.INSTR("Talend Technology", "e",
3, 2), it will start the search from the third
character l and return 7, the
position of the second character e. | | INSTR | Returns the position of a byte set in a string,
counting from left to right and starting from 1.

Note that it returns 0 if the search
is unsuccessful and NULL if the
search value is NULL. | StringHandling.INSTR(byte[] string, byte[]
search\_value, start, occurrence)

string: the string you want to search.
search_value: the set of characters you want to search for.
start: the position in the string where you want to start the search. The default is 1, meaning it starts the search from the first character in the string.
occurrence: the occurrence you want to search for.

| | TO\_CHAR | Converts numeric values to text strings. | StringHandling.TO\_CHAR(numeric\_value) | ### In this section * [Storing a string in alphabetical order](https://help.qlik.com/talend/en-US/studio-user-guide/8.0-R2024-07/storing-string-in-alphabetical-order) * [Checking whether a string is alphabetical](https://help.qlik.com/talend/en-US/studio-user-guide/8.0-R2024-07/checking-whether-string-is-alphabetical) * [Replacing an element in a string](https://help.qlik.com/talend/en-US/studio-user-guide/8.0-R2024-07/replacing-element-in-string) * [Checking the position of a specific character or substring, within a string](https://help.qlik.com/talend/en-US/studio-user-guide/8.0-R2024-07/checking-position-of-specific-character-or-substring-within-string) * [Calculating the length of a string](https://help.qlik.com/talend/en-US/studio-user-guide/8.0-R2024-07/calculating-length-of-string) * [Deleting blank characters](https://help.qlik.com/talend/en-US/studio-user-guide/8.0-R2024-07/deleting-blank-characters)