# DqStringHandling routine

Available in...

* Big Data Platform
* Cloud API Services Platform
* Cloud Big Data Platform
* Cloud Data Fabric
* Cloud Data Management Platform
* Data Fabric
* Data Management Platform
* Data Services Platform
* Qlik Talend Cloud Enterprise Edition
* Qlik Talend Cloud Premium Edition
* Real-Time Big Data Platform

DqStringHandling routine is composed of portions of code that perform certain quality tasks on arrays of characters. You can use them in the settings of Data Quality components in a Talend Job.

To access the functions, in the Repository tree view, go to Code > Global routines > system and double-click DqStringHandling.

Description and syntax of DqStringHandling routine functionsDescription and syntax of DqStringHandlingDqStringHandling routine functions

| Function | Description | Syntax |
| --- | --- | --- |
| containsOnlyInitials | Returns true if the given string contains only initials such as<br>"A", "A.", "A.I." or<br>"A.I.D.S". | DqStringHandling.containsOnlyInitials |
| makeSafe | Returns an empty string when the given string is null. | DqStringHandling.makeSafe |
| safeTrim | Returns the trimmed string or the empty string when the string is<br>null. | DqStringHandling.safeTrim |
| safeConcat (String str1, String str2, char<br>separator) | Returns the concatenation of the trimmed strings. The separator character<br>is used when none of the given strings is empty or null. | DqStringHandling.safeConcat |
| safeConcat (char separator, String...<br>strings) | Returns the concatenation of the trimmed strings. The separator character<br>is used when none of the given strings is empty or null. | DqStringHandling.safeConcat |
| safeConcatMerge | Returns the concatenation of the trimmed and unique strings. The<br>separator character is used when none of the given strings is empty or<br>null.<br><br>If two strings are identical, only one is<br>concatenated.<br><br>The output order might be different from the<br>input order. | DqStringHandling.safeConcatMerge |
| validAscii | Validates the ASCII format or not. | DqStringHandling.validAscii |

### In this section

* [Use case: handling strings using DqStringHandling routine](https://help.qlik.com/talend/en-US/studio-user-guide/8.0-R2025-07/use-case-handling-strings-using-dqstringhandling-routines)