🧵 StringKit-FP: The Complete String Toolkit

📚 Table of Contents

Why Choose StringKit-FP?
Feature Overview
Installation (Lazarus IDE)
Manual Installation (General)
Usage
Start Weaving: Quick Thread Patterns
System Requirements
Documentation
Testing
License
Changelog

🧵 Why Choose StringKit-FP?

Professional string toolkit featuring advanced algorithms: Levenshtein/Jaro similarity, Soundex/Metaphone phonetics, readability scoring, regex patterns, HTML/URL encoding, and comprehensive validation. Static API, no instantiation required.

🎯 Key Advantages:

🧶 Comprehensive: 90+ string operations covering validation, transformation, analysis, and encoding
🪡 Zero Dependencies: Uses only standard Free Pascal RTL - no external libraries required
📏 Advanced Analysis: Readability scoring, n-gram generation, and statistical text analysis
🔍 Robust Validation: Regex patterns, format checking, and custom validation rules
🌐 Web-Ready: URL encoding, HTML escaping, and modern web standards support
🧪 Thoroughly Tested: Comprehensive test suite ensuring reliability in production
⚡ Simple API: Static methods - no object instantiation required, just call and use

✨ Feature Overview

🎭 Case Conversion & Formatting

Professional text styling and formatting

ToUpper(), ToLower(), ToTitleCase() - Standard case transformations
ToCamelCase(), ToPascalCase(), ToSnakeCase(), ToKebabCase() - Modern naming conventions
PadLeft(), PadRight(), PadCenter() - Text alignment with custom padding
Truncate() - Smart text truncation with ellipsis support
CapitalizeText() - Intelligent word capitalization

🔍 Validation & Pattern Matching

Robust string validation and pattern extraction

IsValidEmail(), IsValidURL(), IsValidIP() - Comprehensive format validation
IsValidDate() - Date validation with custom format support
MatchesPattern() - Powerful regex pattern matching
ExtractMatches(), ExtractAllMatches() - Extract matching substrings

🧬 Similarity & Fuzzy Matching

Advanced string comparison algorithms

LevenshteinDistance(), LevenshteinSimilarity() - Edit distance calculations
HammingDistance() - Character-by-character comparison for equal-length strings
JaroSimilarity(), JaroWinklerSimilarity() - Sophisticated similarity metrics
LongestCommonSubsequence(), LCSSimilarity() - Common subsequence analysis
IsFuzzyMatch() - Multi-algorithm fuzzy string matching

🎵 Phonetic Matching

Sound-based string comparison algorithms

Soundex() - Russell-Odell phonetic algorithm for name matching
Metaphone() - Advanced English pronunciation-based matching

🏛️ Number Formatting

Professional number and numeric string handling

ToRoman(), FromRoman() - Roman numeral conversion (1-3999)
FormatFileSize() - Human-readable file size formatting (B, KB, MB, GB, TB)
FormatNumber(), FormatFloat() - Thousand-separator formatting
ToOrdinal() - Ordinal number formatting (1st, 2nd, 3rd...)
NumberToWords() - Convert numbers to English words

🌐 Encoding & Web Utilities

Web-safe string encoding and decoding

HTMLEncode(), HTMLDecode() - HTML entity encoding for safe web output
URLEncode(), URLDecode() - URL parameter encoding/decoding
HexEncode(), HexDecode() - Hexadecimal string conversion

📊 Text Analysis

Statistical analysis and text insights

CountWords(), GetWords() - Word counting and extraction
FleschKincaidReadability() - Readability scoring for content assessment
GenerateNGrams() - N-gram generation for linguistic analysis

🛠️ String Utilities

Essential string manipulation operations

Split(), Join() - String splitting and joining operations
ReplaceText(), ReplaceRegEx() - Text replacement with regex support
Contains(), StartsWith(), EndsWith() - String content inspection
CollapseWhitespace(), RemoveWhitespace() - Whitespace normalization
DuplicateText(), ReverseText() - String duplication and reversal
GetLength(), SubString(), LeftStr(), RightStr() - String length and extraction
CountSubString() - Substring occurrence counting

🧶 Installation (Lazarus IDE)

Quick setup for Lazarus development

Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/ikelaiah/stringkit-fp

Open your project - Open/start a new project in Lazarus IDE
Add the package - Go to Package → Open Package File (.lpk)...
Select the package - Navigate to the StringKit packages in the packages/lazarus/ folder and select stringkit_fp.lpk
Compile the package - In the package window that opens, click Compile
Install to project - Click Use → Add to Project to install the package

✅ Installation complete! StringKit is now available in your Lazarus project.

🧵 Manual Installation (General)

Alternative setup method

Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/ikelaiah/stringkit-fp

Configure your project - Add the source directory to your project's search path.

🧵 Usage

Import StringKit into your project

uses
  // String manipulation library
  StringKit;           // All string operations

🚀 Quick Start

Minimal end-to-end usage with static and helper APIs:

uses
  SysUtils,
  StringKit,
  StringKitHelper; // enable instance-style helper

begin
  // Validation (helper)
  if 'user@example.com'.IsValidEmail then
    WriteLn('Valid email');

  // Formatting (static)
  WriteLn(TStringKit.FormatFileSize(1048576)); // 1.00 MB

  // Encoding (helper)
  WriteLn('foo'.Encode64); // Zm9v
end.

🧩 Instance-Style API via Type Helpers

StringKit also provides a string type helper for more natural, instance-style calls.

uses
  StringKit, StringKitHelper; // Enable helper-backed instance methods on 'string'

var
  S: string;
begin
  // Instance-style calls (via TStringHelperEx)
  S := '  hello world  '.Trim;                // 'hello world'
  S := 'Hello World'.ToSnakeCase;             // 'hello_world'
  if 'user@example.com'.IsValidEmail then ;   // True
  S := 'Hello World!'.URLEncode;              // 'Hello+World%21'
  S := 'foo'.Encode64;                        // 'Zm9v'

  // Equivalent static calls still work
  S := TStringKit.Trim('  hello world  ');
end;

Notes:

Add StringKitHelper to your unit's uses clause to enable helper methods.
Most TStringKit string-first methods are available via the helper for convenience; methods that don't operate on a source string may remain as static calls.

⚙️ Modular Helper via Feature Flags (1.6.0+)

As of 1.6.0, TStringHelperEx is modularized using conditional includes to let you select which groups compile into the helper.

Default: if no symbols are defined, SK_ALL enables all groups.
Selective mode: define SK_ANY and then enable specific groups you need.

Available groups:

SK_MANIP — trim, pad, collapse whitespace, reverse, length, substring
SK_MATCH — regex match/extract, contains/starts/ends, words, counts
SK_COMPARE — Levenshtein, Hamming, Jaro/Jaro-Winkler, LCS, fuzzy
SK_CASE — title, camel, pascal, snake, kebab
SK_VALIDATE — email, URL, IP (v4/v6), date
SK_FORMAT — truncate, file size, number/float formatting
SK_NUMERIC — roman, ordinal, number-to-words, from-roman
SK_ENCODE — hex, base64, HTML, URL encode/decode
SK_SPLIT — split, join
SK_PHONETIC — soundex, metaphone, readability, ngrams, basic counts

Notes:

Implementation and interface includes live under src/inc/ and are pulled from src/StringKitHelper.pas using {$I ...}.
When SK_ALL (default) is active, the helper API matches the full surface as before.
See also: CHANGELOG 1.6.0 for the summary.

🚀 SK_ENCODE Quick Start (helper-only)

Enable only encoding/decoding helpers via feature flags, then use StringKitHelper without static calls.

Lazarus (FPC): Project Options > Compiler Options > Custom Options
- -dSK_ANY -dSK_ENCODE

Uses:

uses SysUtils, StringKitHelper;

Examples:

begin
  // 1) Base64
  WriteLn('foo'.Encode64);    // Zm9v
  WriteLn('Zm9v'.Decode64);   // foo

  // 2) URL
  WriteLn('Hello World!'.URLEncode);    // Hello+World%21
  WriteLn('Hello+World%21'.URLDecode);  // Hello World!

  // 3) HTML
  WriteLn('<b>Hi</b>'.HTMLEncode);           // &lt;b&gt;Hi&lt;/b&gt;
  WriteLn('&lt;b&gt;Hi&lt;/b&gt;'.HTMLDecode);  // <b>Hi</b>

  // 4) Hex
  WriteLn('abc'.HexEncode);     // 616263
  WriteLn('616263'.HexDecode);  // abc

  // 5) Chaining (HTML then URL)
  WriteLn('<p class="x">'.HTMLEncode.URLEncode);
end.

Note on defines scope:

{$DEFINE ...} inside your program controls conditional blocks in your program only. It does not affect how src/StringKitHelper.pas is compiled in a separate unit.
To actually compile the helper with only SK_ENCODE, set defines at the project/build level so the compiler sees them when compiling StringKitHelper.pas:
- Lazarus/FPC: Project Options > Compiler Options > Custom Options → -dSK_ANY -dSK_ENCODE

🎨 Start Weaving: Quick Thread Patterns

🎨 Thread Dyeing & Styling

Transform your raw strings into beautifully styled threads

var
  Text: string;
begin
  // Case conversions
  Text := TStringKit.ToCamelCase('hello world');     // Returns: 'helloWorld'
  Text := TStringKit.ToPascalCase('hello world');    // Returns: 'HelloWorld'
  Text := TStringKit.ToSnakeCase('HelloWorld');      // Returns: 'hello_world'
  Text := TStringKit.ToKebabCase('HelloWorld');      // Returns: 'hello-world'
  Text := TStringKit.ToTitleCase('hello world');     // Returns: 'Hello World'
  
  // Padding and formatting
  Text := TStringKit.PadLeft('123', 8, '0');         // Returns: '00000123'
  Text := TStringKit.PadRight('Name', 10, '.');      // Returns: 'Name......'
  Text := TStringKit.PadCenter('Hi', 10, '-');       // Returns: '----Hi----'
  Text := TStringKit.Truncate('Very long text', 10); // Returns: 'Very lo...'
  Text := TStringKit.CapitalizeText('hello world');  // Returns: 'Hello World'
end;

🔍 Quality Control & Pattern Weaving

Inspect your threads and extract beautiful patterns

var
  Matches: TMatchesResults;
  AllMatches: TStringDynArray;
  i: Integer;
begin
  // Built-in validators
  if TStringKit.IsValidEmail('user@example.com') then
    WriteLn('Valid email');
  if TStringKit.IsValidURL('https://example.com') then
    WriteLn('Valid URL');
  if TStringKit.IsValidIPv4('192.168.1.1') then
    WriteLn('Valid IPv4');
  if TStringKit.IsValidDate('2023-12-25', 'yyyy-mm-dd') then
    WriteLn('Valid date');
    
  // Pattern matching and extraction
  if TStringKit.MatchesPattern('ABC123', '^[A-Z]{3}\d{3}$') then
    WriteLn('Matches pattern');
    
  // Extract all matches with position info
  Matches := TStringKit.ExtractMatches('Call 555-1234 or 555-5678', '\d{3}-\d{4}');
  for i := 0 to High(Matches) do
    WriteLn(Format('Found: %s at position %d', [Matches[i].Text, Matches[i].Position]));
    
  // Extract just the matched text
  AllMatches := TStringKit.ExtractAllMatches('Emails: a@b.com, c@d.net', '\w+@\w+\.\w+');
  for i := 0 to High(AllMatches) do
    WriteLn('Email: ' + AllMatches[i]);
end;

🧬 Thread Similarity Analysis

Compare and measure the likeness between different thread types

var
  Distance: Integer;
  Similarity: Double;
begin
  // String distance algorithms
  Distance := TStringKit.LevenshteinDistance('kitten', 'sitting'); // Returns: 3
  Distance := TStringKit.HammingDistance('karolin', 'kathrin');     // Returns: 3
  
  // Similarity ratios (0.0 to 1.0)
  Similarity := TStringKit.LevenshteinSimilarity('test', 'best');   // Returns: ~0.75
  Similarity := TStringKit.JaroSimilarity('MARTHA', 'MARHTA');      // Returns: ~0.94
  Similarity := TStringKit.JaroWinklerSimilarity('MARTHA', 'MARHTA'); // Higher than Jaro
  
  // Fuzzy matching with threshold
  if TStringKit.IsFuzzyMatch('apple', 'appel', 0.8) then
    WriteLn('Close match found');
    
  // Longest common subsequence
  WriteLn(TStringKit.LongestCommonSubsequence('ABCDEFG', 'ABDZEFXG')); // Returns: 'ABDEG'
end;

🎵 Sound Thread Identification

Match threads by their sonic fingerprint

var
  Code1, Code2: string;
begin
  // Soundex for name matching
  Code1 := TStringKit.Soundex('Robert');  // Returns: 'R163'
  Code2 := TStringKit.Soundex('Rupert');  // Returns: 'R163'
  if Code1 = Code2 then
    WriteLn('Names sound similar');
    
  // Metaphone for pronunciation
  Code1 := TStringKit.Metaphone('knight');   // Returns: 'NT'
  Code2 := TStringKit.Metaphone('night');    // Returns: 'NT'
  if Code1 = Code2 then
    WriteLn('Words sound the same');
end;

🏛️ Number Thread Artistry

Spin numbers into elegant, readable thread patterns

var
  Roman: string;
  Number: Integer;
  Formatted: string;
begin
  // Roman numerals
  Roman := TStringKit.ToRoman(1994);        // Returns: 'MCMXCIV'
  Number := TStringKit.FromRoman('MCMXCIV'); // Returns: 1994
  
  // File size formatting
  Formatted := TStringKit.FormatFileSize(1048576);    // Returns: '1.00 MB'
  Formatted := TStringKit.FormatFileSize(1500000000); // Returns: '1.40 GB'
  
  // Number formatting
  Formatted := TStringKit.FormatNumber(1234567);           // Returns: '1,234,567'
  Formatted := TStringKit.FormatFloat(12345.67, 2);       // Returns: '12,345.67'
  Formatted := TStringKit.FormatFloat(1234.5, 3, ',', '.'); // Returns: '1.234,500'
  
  // Ordinal and word conversion
  Formatted := TStringKit.ToOrdinal(21);              // Returns: '21st'
  Formatted := TStringKit.NumberToWords(123);         // Returns: 'one hundred and twenty-three'
end;

🌐 Web Thread Preparation

Ready your threads for the digital tapestry of the web

var
  Encoded, Decoded: string;
begin
  // HTML encoding for safe web content
  Encoded := TStringKit.HTMLEncode('<p class="bold">Text</p>');
  // Returns: '&lt;p class=&quot;bold&quot;&gt;Text&lt;/p&gt;'
  
  Decoded := TStringKit.HTMLDecode('&lt;p&gt;Hello &amp; World&lt;/p&gt;');
  // Returns: '<p>Hello & World</p>'
  
  // URL encoding for web parameters
  Encoded := TStringKit.URLEncode('Hello World!');     // Returns: 'Hello+World%21'
  Decoded := TStringKit.URLDecode('Hello+World%21');   // Returns: 'Hello World!'
  
  // Base64 encoding/decoding
  Encoded := TStringKit.Encode64('foo');               // Returns: 'Zm9v'
  Decoded := TStringKit.Decode64('Zm8=');              // Returns: 'fo'
  
  // Hexadecimal encoding
  Encoded := TStringKit.HexEncode('Hello');            // Returns: '48656C6C6F'
  Decoded := TStringKit.HexDecode('48656C6C6F');       // Returns: 'Hello'
end;

📊 Thread Analysis & Insights

Examine your woven text like a master craftsperson

var
  WordCount: Integer;
  Readability: Double;
  NGrams: TStringDynArray;
  i: Integer;
begin
  // Basic text statistics
  WordCount := TStringKit.CountWords('Hello, world! How are you?'); // Returns: 5
  
  // Readability scoring (0-100, higher = easier)
  Readability := TStringKit.FleschKincaidReadability('The quick brown fox jumps.');
  WriteLn(Format('Readability score: %.1f', [Readability]));
  
  // N-gram generation for NLP
  NGrams := TStringKit.GenerateNGrams('the quick brown fox', 2); // Bigrams
  for i := 0 to High(NGrams) do
    WriteLn('Bigram: ' + NGrams[i]);
  // Output: 'the quick', 'quick brown', 'brown fox'
end;

🛠️ Master Weaver's Essential Tools

The fundamental techniques every string artisan must know

var
  Parts: TStringDynArray;
  Joined: string;
  i: Integer;
begin
  // Splitting and joining
  Parts := TStringKit.Split('apple,banana,cherry', ',');
  for i := 0 to High(Parts) do
    WriteLn('Part: ' + Parts[i]);
    
  Joined := TStringKit.Join(Parts, ' | '); // Returns: 'apple | banana | cherry'
  
  // Text replacement
  Joined := TStringKit.ReplaceText('Hello World', 'World', 'Pascal');
  // Returns: 'Hello Pascal'
  
  Joined := TStringKit.ReplaceRegEx('Phone: 123-456-7890', '(\d{3})-(\d{3})-(\d{4})', '($1) $2-$3');
  // Returns: 'Phone: (123) 456-7890'
  
  // String testing
  if TStringKit.StartsWith('Hello World', 'Hello') then
    WriteLn('Starts with Hello');
  if TStringKit.EndsWith('test.txt', '.txt') then
    WriteLn('Is a text file');
  if TStringKit.Contains('Hello World', 'World') then
    WriteLn('Contains World');
    
  // Text cleaning
  Joined := TStringKit.CollapseWhitespace('  Multiple   spaces  '); // Returns: ' Multiple spaces '
  Joined := TStringKit.RemoveWhitespace('  No spaces  ');          // Returns: 'Nospaces'
  
  // String extraction and manipulation
  Joined := TStringKit.LeftStr('Hello World', 5);     // Returns: 'Hello'
  Joined := TStringKit.RightStr('Hello World', 5);    // Returns: 'World'
  Joined := TStringKit.SubString('Hello World', 7, 5); // Returns: 'World'
  Joined := TStringKit.DuplicateText('Hi! ', 3);      // Returns: 'Hi! Hi! Hi! '
  
  // String analysis
  WriteLn(TStringKit.GetLength('Hello'));             // Returns: 5
  WriteLn(TStringKit.CountSubString('ababab', 'ab')); // Returns: 3
end;

📂 Working Examples

The examples/ folder contains ready-to-run programs demonstrating StringKit-FP features:

🎨 StringKitExample

A comprehensive demonstration program showing all major StringKit-FP functionality:

fpc -Fu./src ./examples/StringKitExample/StringKitExample.pas
./StringKitExample

This example covers:

Basic string operations (trim, case conversion, padding)
Pattern matching and validation
String similarity algorithms
Text analysis and formatting
Web encoding (HTML, URL, Base64)
Number formatting and conversion

🔧 Selective Feature Examples

For selective feature compilation using feature flags:

CaseAndEncodeDemo - Compile with only CASE and ENCODE features:

fpc -dSK_ANY -dSK_CASE -dSK_ENCODE -Fu./src ./examples/directives/CaseAndEncodeDemo.pas
./CaseAndEncodeDemo

EncodeOnlyDemo - Compile with only ENCODE feature:

fpc -dSK_ANY -dSK_ENCODE -Fu./src ./examples/directives/EncodeOnlyDemo.pas
./EncodeOnlyDemo

These examples demonstrate the modular helper system and how to build lightweight custom versions of StringKit-FP.

🚨 Common Beginner Questions

Q: Why does .Trim not work on my string?

A: Make sure you have StringKitHelper in your uses clause. Without it, you must use TStringKit.Trim() instead.

uses StringKit, StringKitHelper;  // Add StringKitHelper to enable instance methods

S := '  hello  '.Trim;  // Now this works!

Q: Can I use just the static methods without the helper?

A: Absolutely! The helper is optional. Use TStringKit.FunctionName() for static method calls without importing StringKitHelper.

uses StringKit;  // Helper not needed for static methods

S := TStringKit.Trim('  hello  ');  // This always works

Q: What's the difference between the two approaches?

Approach	Style	Requires StringKitHelper	Example
Instance-style	Modern, fluent	✅ Yes	`'hello'.Trim`
Static method	Traditional	❌ No	`TStringKit.Trim('hello')`

Both are equally valid - choose whichever you prefer!

📖 System Requirements

Tested Environments

Module	Windows 11	Ubuntu 24.04.2
StringKit	✅	✅

Dependencies

Windows
- No external dependencies required
Linux
- No external dependencies required
Uses only standard Free Pascal RTL units

Build Requirements

Free Pascal Compiler (FPC) 3.2.2+
Lazarus 4.0+
Basic development tools (git, terminal, etc)

📚 Documentation

For detailed documentation, see:

📋 Cheat Sheet
📝 StringKit Helper Coverage

✅ Testing

Open the TestRunner.lpi using Lazarus IDE
Compile the project
Run the Test Runner:

$ cd tests
$ ./TestRunner.exe -a --format=plain

🧭 Future Weaving Patterns

Our roadmap for expanding the string artisan's toolkit

Remove custom types and use RTL types
Introduce custom method for hashing
Enhance multi-byte character weaving for global text tapestries
Seamless support for Free Pascal and Lazarus package managers

🤝 Join the Weaving Circle

Every master weaver started as an apprentice - your contributions help strengthen our tapestry!

Contributions are warmly welcomed! Whether you're adding new thread patterns, fixing loose ends, or improving our weaving techniques, please feel free to submit a Pull Request. For major pattern changes, please open an issue first to discuss your vision.

Fork the Loom - Fork the Project
Create your Pattern - Create your Feature Branch (git checkout -b feature/AmazingThreadPattern)
Weave your Changes - Commit your Changes (git commit -m 'Add beautiful new thread pattern')
Share your Work - Push to the Branch (git push origin feature/AmazingThreadPattern)
Present to the Guild - Open a Pull Request

⚖️ License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

🙏 Honoring Our Thread Masters

Standing on the shoulders of giants who wove the foundation

🏛️ The FPC Guild - For crafting the magnificent Free Pascal loom
🧵 Fellow Weavers - All contributors and maintainers who help strengthen our tapestry
🎨 String Artisans Everywhere - The community that inspires continuous innovation

🧶 Ready to start weaving? Your feedback helps us craft better tools! Visit our thread workshop to share ideas, report loose threads, or track our weaving progress.

✨ Happy String Weaving! ✨

"In every thread lies infinite possibility, in every string a story waiting to be told."

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