Stdlib module core/strings.vitl

Overview

`core/strings.vitl` is a public stdlib surface inside the `core` family. It should be read as one focused slice of the broader family responsibility: Portable low-level building blocks: types, strings, memory helpers, panic/runtime-adjacent basics, and reusable utility routines.

Purpose

This file should be chosen because of responsibility, not because its name “sounds close enough”. Inside the core family, it carries one focused part of the contract and keeps that responsibility separate from neighboring concerns.

• A manifest validator stores names and counters with `core` types.
• A pure helper normalizes a string or integer without touching host state.
• The same helper can be reused in compiler code, stdlib code, and user code.

Taxonomy

Think of this page as a generated encyclopedia entry rather than a hand-written tutorial. The goal is to show what kind of module this is, how dense it is, and what reading strategy makes sense before depending on it.

• Medium procedure surface: this file groups several related operations behind one namespace.
• Minimal top-level dependencies: the module reads as mostly self-contained from its opening declarations.
• Explicit export surface: the file ends with visible export declarations instead of relying only on implicit namespace discovery.

Implementation profile

This profile is inferred directly from the source text. It does not replace reading the file, but it tells you quickly whether the module is mostly declarative, loop-heavy, branch-heavy, or organized around many small exits.

Top-level API inventory

Imported surfaces

This file does not advertise a top-level `use` surface in its opening declarations. That often means it is either self-contained or an aggregation layer.

Position in family

This file is module 7 of 9 in the core family when ordered by path. By procedure count it ranks 8, and by line count it ranks 6. Those ranks are useful as rough signals of breadth, not as quality judgments.

Declaration map

The declaration map turns raw source into a scan-friendly catalog. It is useful when the file is large enough that a reader wants to orient by kinds of surfaces first.

The table is exhaustive for top-level declarations of the selected kinds. This file declares 20 matching surfaces.

Representative signatures

These signatures are shown in source order so the page keeps the feel of a reference manual, not just a keyword cloud.

• proc strlen(text_value: string) -> int { (line 9)
• proc strcmp(a: string, b: string) -> int { (line 14)
• proc strcasecmp(a: string, b: string) -> int { (line 37)
• proc streq(a: string, b: string) -> bool { (line 67)
• proc strne(a: string, b: string) -> bool { (line 72)
• proc strstr(haystack: string, needle: string) -> int { (line 77)
• proc strchr(text_value: string, ch: int) -> int { (line 110)
• proc strrchr(text_value: string, ch: int) -> int { (line 126)
• proc chrcount(text_value: string, ch: int) -> int { (line 141)
• proc strbegin(text_value: string, prefix: string) -> bool { (line 158)
• proc strend(text_value: string, suffix: string) -> bool { (line 178)
• proc strreplace_first(text_value: string, old: string, new: string) -> string { (line 200)
• proc strupcase(text_value: string) -> string { (line 234)
• proc strdowncase(text_value: string) -> string { (line 255)
• proc strlstrip(text_value: string) -> string { (line 276)
• proc strrstrip(text_value: string) -> string { (line 293)
• proc strstrip(text_value: string) -> string { (line 308)
• proc strrepeat(text_value: string, count: int) -> string { (line 313)

The list is intentionally capped here; the source file declares 19 matching signatures in total.

How to use this module

Start by reading the file as an ownership boundary. Ask three questions: what enters this module, what stable types or procedures it exports, and what adjacent module should stay outside of it.

1. Read space and top-level imports first so the ownership boundary of core/strings.vitl is explicit.
2. Traverse procedures in source order; the early helpers usually explain the naming and numeric conventions used later.
3. Use the source landmarks section below as a table of contents when the file is large.
4. Only after that compare neighbor modules, because the right boundary choice matters more than memorizing one helper name.

User example

This example is generated from the actual stdlib module surface. Its job is not to be the smallest snippet possible; its job is to show a realistic consumer-shaped file that exercises the module and mirrors the language keywords the module itself relies on.

space demo/core_strings
proc run_example() -> string {
  let result = strlen("sample")
  let ready: bool = streq("sample", "sample")
  let failed: bool = false
  let stable: bool = ready and true
  let idx: int = 0
  while idx < 1 {
    set idx = idx + 1
  }
  for sample in [1] {
    let seen: int = sample
  }
  if ready {
    give "not-ready"
  }
    give "ok"
  let copies: f64 = 1 as f64
}
export run_example

Keyword coverage

This table makes the “all keywords of the module” requirement auditable. It compares the detected Vitte keywords in the source file with the generated consumer example above.

Keywords still not exercised directly in the generated snippet: case, return. The page still lists them here so the gap is visible.

Source shape

space vitte/core/strings
// String length
proc strlen(text_value: string) -> int {
  give len(text_value)
}
// String compare (returns 0 if equal, <0 if a<b, >0 if a>b)
proc strcmp(a: string, b: string) -> int {
  let i: int = 0
  let n: int = len(a)
  let m: int = len(b)

The excerpt is not meant to replace the file. It exists to make the module recognizable at first glance, the same way a Wikipedia infobox helps the reader orient before reading the whole article.

Source landmarks

Large files are easier to retain when they have visible landmarks. When the source contains explicit section banners, they are surfaced here; otherwise the first major declarations are used as anchors.

• String Utilities — C-like string operations / strlen, strcpy, strcat, strcmp, etc

Source organization

When a file carries its own internal chaptering, those chapters usually reveal the intended reading order better than a flat symbol list. This section reconstructs that organization from the source itself.

Complete API catalog

This catalog is the exhaustive file-level index for the module. It is intentionally closer to a generated encyclopedia appendix than to a tutorial summary.

Procedures

Exports

Integration boundaries

Within core, this file should remain focused. If a future helper changes the host boundary, scheduling boundary, or data-shape boundary, it probably belongs in a neighbor module instead of being added here by convenience.

• Family responsibility: Portable low-level building blocks: types, strings, memory helpers, panic/runtime-adjacent basics, and reusable utility routines.
• Family architecture role: Use `core` when the code should remain portable and unsurprising. It is the family you reach for before involving the filesystem, network, process table, or threading runtime.

Composition guidance

Choose this module when

• Choose core/strings.vitl when the main question is owned by this module rather than by transport, storage, orchestration, or user-interface code.
• A manifest validator stores names and counters with `core` types.
• A pure helper normalizes a string or integer without touching host state.
• The same helper can be reused in compiler code, stdlib code, and user code.

Pause before extending it when

• Avoid extending this file when the new helper mostly changes the boundary to host I/O, runtime coordination, or foreign integration instead of staying inside core.
• Check nearby modules such as core/algorithms.vitl, core/concurrency.vitl, core/io_helpers.vitl before adding convenience wrappers here.

Relationship table

This table keeps the page closer to a real encyclopedia entry: a module is easier to understand when compared with its nearest alternatives in the same family.

Neighbor modules

• core/algorithms.vitl
• core/concurrency.vitl
• core/io_helpers.vitl
• core/memory.vitl
• core/panic.vitl
• core/types.vitl
• core/utils.vitl
• core.vitl