[XeTeX] String manipulation (substr and similar) in XeLaTeX

[Ross Moore]

Hello Jan,

On 04/12/2007, at 11:14 AM, Jan Zahornadsky wrote:

> Hi!
>
> I've just came over this problem -- is there a package or method  
> how to
> manipulate strings (as packages like coolstr, substr and similar do)?
> They seem to work with XeLaTeX as long as the parameter contains no
> special symbols (the 128 same-mapped characters, I suppose).
>
> How to perform similar manipulations in the unicode? Are there some
> built-in functions in XeLaTeX? Is it at least possible (by updating
> existing packages)?

You can use the TeX primitives \openout and \write to write the
string to a file, then use the  \write18  shell-escape facility
to run a unix (or DOS) command on that file; e.g.,
some Perl string processing commands, or  sed  or  awk , etc.

Then use \openin and  \read  to get the resulting data back
into your Xe(La)TeX document.

I'd guess that this is how PerlTeX works.

>
> Thanks a lot in advance for any answer, any idea!


Hope this helps,

	Ross Moore

> Jan


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Ross Moore                                         ross at maths.mq.edu.au
Mathematics Department                             office: E7A-419
Macquarie University                               tel: +61 +2 9850 8955
Sydney, Australia  2109                            fax: +61 +2 9850 8114
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