Re: How do I delete the 1st three characters from a variable
Re: How do I delete the 1st three characters from a variable
- Subject: Re: How do I delete the 1st three characters from a variable
- From: kai <email@hidden>
- Date: Wed, 4 Jan 2006 01:34:37 +0000
On 4 Jan 2006, at 00:23, Michelle Steiner wrote:
On Jan 3, 2006, at 4:30 PM, kai wrote:
On 3 Jan 2006, at 23:08, Shane Stanley wrote:
Ignoring the opinion about -1 vs end (which I disagree with, but
again only
as a matter of opinion), these two are quite different. The
latter is more
inefficient -- it creates an unnecessary list and then coerces it
-- and it
also potentially raises issues if myImageName is Unicode text by
virtue of
its coercion to string class.
The result of such a coercion is also dependent on the current
value of AppleScript's text item delimiters. This can (and
occasionally does) catch folks out - especially if they're not
fully aware of the implications.
What is the matter with using "text" instead of "characters" and
coercing to a string?
Not much - if you really want a string, Michelle. The point we were
really making is that, since we're already dealing with text, it's
generally preferable (for reasons of efficiency and robustness) to
use <text x thru y> rather than <characters x thru y as string>.
That way, if the incoming text is Unicode text, then the result will
also be Unicode text. For many purposes (especially when dealing with
file paths and names), it's probably best left in that form - so
there would be little point in the extra coercion to string.
If for some reason Unicode text is undesirable in a particular
situation, then a regular coercion to string might do the trick. But
it's perhaps worth noting that, although the result will have a class
of 'string', it will still contain some encoded style data. I'll
resist the temptation here to wander off-topic by enlarging on that -
although, if you're interested, you might like to check out this
discussion a little earlier:
http://bbs.applescript.net/viewtopic.php?id=15464
PS: Apologies for the frequent use of words like "text" and "string"
- which may mean different things depending on context (just to add
to the confusion). ;-)
---
kai
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