From cfb9e083d220bf9c9eaa350cc8c386224620ee2a Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: kunalkakade <kunalkakade808@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 7 Aug 2026 14:48:34 +0530
Subject: [PATCH] Add documentation for the string.* commands.

---
 doc/manual/string_functions.md | 139 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 139 insertions(+)
 create mode 100644 doc/manual/string_functions.md

diff --git a/doc/manual/string_functions.md b/doc/manual/string_functions.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..306bdd1b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/manual/string_functions.md
@@ -0,0 +1,139 @@
+# String functions
+
+The `string.*` commands manipulate and inspect text from within the
+configuration file.
+They are pure functions with no side effects, so they can be nested freely and
+are safe to call over RPC.
+
+Every argument is converted to its string representation before use, which means
+numbers can be passed where text is expected.
+Commands that count characters, such as `string.length` and `string.substr`, count
+utf-8 characters rather than bytes.
+
+## string.length
+
+    # string.length = «text»
+
+    string.length = "héllo"    # 5
+
+Returns the number of utf-8 characters in the text.
+
+## string.equals
+
+    # string.equals = «text», «other»[, ...]
+
+    string.equals = (d.name), "first.iso", "second.iso"
+
+Returns `1` if the first argument equals any of the following arguments,
+otherwise `0`.
+
+## string.starts_with, string.ends_with
+
+    # string.starts_with = «text», «prefix»[, ...]
+    # string.ends_with = «text», «tail»[, ...]
+
+    string.starts_with = (t.url), "http://", "https://"
+    string.ends_with = (d.name), ".iso"
+
+Returns `1` if the text begins, or ends, with any of the given prefixes or
+tails.
+
+## string.contains, string.contains_i
+
+    # string.contains = «haystack», «needle»[, ...]
+    # string.contains_i = «haystack», «needle»[, ...]
+
+    string.contains = (t.url), "retracker.local"
+    string.contains_i = (t.url), "RETRACKER.local"
+
+Returns `1` if the haystack contains any of the needles.
+The `_i` variant compares case-insensitively, and only handles ascii.
+
+## string.substr
+
+    # string.substr = «text»[, «position»[, «count»[, «default»]]]
+
+    string.substr = "abcdef", 2, 3       # "cde"
+    string.substr = "abcdef", -2         # "ef"
+    string.substr = "abcdef", 10, 1, "?" # "?"
+
+Extracts a part of the text, starting at `position` and spanning `count`
+characters.
+The position defaults to the start of the text, and the count to the rest of it.
+A negative position is relative to the end of the text.
+If the position falls outside the text, the default value is returned instead,
+which is the empty string unless given.
+
+## string.split
+
+    # string.split = «text», «delimiter»
+
+    string.split = "a.b.c", "."    # {"a", "b", "c"}
+    string.split = "abc", ""       # {"a", "b", "c"}
+
+Splits the text into a list, keeping empty fields.
+An empty delimiter splits the text into its utf-8 characters.
+
+## string.join
+
+    # string.join = «delimiter»[, «object»[, ...]]
+
+    string.join = "-", (string.split, "a.b.c", ".")    # "a-b-c"
+
+Concatenates the objects, inserting the delimiter between them.
+Lists are flattened, so the result of `string.split` can be joined back
+together.
+
+## string.lpad, string.rpad
+
+    # string.lpad = «text», «length»[, «padding»]
+    # string.rpad = «text», «length»[, «padding»]
+
+    string.lpad = 7, 3, 0    # "007"
+    string.rpad = "a", 3     # "a  "
+
+Pads the text at the start, or the end, until it is `length` characters long.
+The padding defaults to a single space and is repeated as needed.
+Text that is already long enough is returned unchanged.
+
+## string.strip, string.lstrip, string.rstrip
+
+    # string.strip = «text»[, «strippable»[, ...]]
+    # string.lstrip = «text»[, «head»[, ...]]
+    # string.rstrip = «text»[, «tail»[, ...]]
+
+    string.strip = "  padded  "      # "padded"
+    string.strip = "//path//", "/"   # "path"
+
+Removes characters from both ends of the text, or from only the start or the
+end.
+The arguments after the text form a set of utf-8 characters to remove.
+Without them, whitespace is removed.
+
+## string.map
+
+    # string.map = «text», {«old», «new»}[, ...]
+
+    string.map = (d.state), {0, "stopped"}, {1, "started"}
+
+Returns the replacement of the first pair whose `old` value equals the whole
+text.
+If no pair matches, the text is returned unchanged.
+
+## string.replace
+
+    # string.replace = «text», {«old», «new»}[, ...]
+
+    string.replace = "a-b-c", {"-", "+"}    # "a+b+c"
+
+Replaces every occurrence of `old` with `new`.
+The pairs are applied in order, so a later pair operates on the result of the
+earlier ones.
+
+## Example: dropping unwanted trackers
+
+The following disables every tracker that points at `retracker.local` as soon as
+a download is inserted.
+
+    method.set_key = event.download.inserted, drop_retracker, \
+      ((t.multicall, default, "branch=(string.contains,(t.url),retracker.local),((t.disable))"))