String#at

Returns a substring of a string object. Same interface as String#[].

str = "hello"
str.at(0)      # => "h"
str.at(1..3)   # => "ell"
str.at(-2)     # => "l"
str.at(-2..-1) # => "lo"
str.at(5)      # => nil
str.at(5..-1)  # => ""

String#from

Returns a substring from the given position to the end of the string.

str = "hello"
str.from(0)  # => "hello"
str.from(3)  # => "lo"
str.from(-2) # => "lo"

String#to

Returns a substring from the beginning of the string to the given position.
If the position is negative, it is counted from the end of the string.

str = "hello"
str.to(0)  # => "h"
str.to(3)  # => "hell"
str.to(-2) # => "hell"

from and to can be used in tandem.

str = "hello"
str.from(0).to(-1) # => "hello"
str.from(1).to(-2) # => "ell"

String#first

Returns the first character, or a given number of characters up to the length of the string.

str = "hello"
str.first    # => "h"
str.first(1) # => "h"
str.first(2) # => "he"
str.first(0) # => ""
str.first(6) # => "hello"

String#last

Returns the last character, or a given number of characters from the end of the string counting backwards.

str = "hello"
str.last    # => "o"
str.last(1) # => "o"
str.last(2) # => "lo"
str.last(0) # => ""
str.last(6) # => "hello"

String#to_time

Converts a string to a Time value. The form parameter can be either :utc or :local, defaults to :local.

"13-12-2012".to_time               # => 2012-12-13 00:00:00 +0100
"06:12".to_time                    # => 2012-12-13 06:12:00 +0100
"2012-12-13 06:12".to_time         # => 2012-12-13 06:12:00 +0100
"2012-12-13T06:12".to_time         # => 2012-12-13 06:12:00 +0100
"2012-12-13T06:12".to_time(:utc)   # => 2012-12-13 06:12:00 UTC
"12/13/2012".to_time               # => ArgumentError: argument out of range

String#to_date

Converts a string to a Date value.

"1-1-2012".to_date   # => Sun, 01 Jan 2012
"01/01/2012".to_date # => Sun, 01 Jan 2012
"2012-12-13".to_date # => Thu, 13 Dec 2012
"12/13/2012".to_date # => ArgumentError: invalid date

String#to_datetime

Converts a string to a DateTime value.

"1-1-2012".to_datetime            # => Sun, 01 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0000
"01/01/2012 23:59:59".to_datetime # => Sun, 01 Jan 2012 23:59:59 +0000
"2012-12-13 12:50".to_datetime    # => Thu, 13 Dec 2012 12:50:00 +0000
"12/13/2012".to_datetime          # => ArgumentError: invalid date

String#exclude?

The inverse of String#include?

"hello".exclude? "lo" # => false
"hello".exclude? "ol" # => true
"hello".exclude? ?h   # => false

String#squish

Returns a version of the given string without leading or trailing whitespace, and combines all consecutive whitespace in the interior to single spaces. Destructive version squish! operates directly on the string instance.

Handles both ASCII and Unicode whitespace.

%{ Multi-line
   string }.squish                   # => "Multi-line string"
" foo   bar    \n   \t   boo".squish # => "foo bar boo"

String#remove

Returns a new string with all occurrences of the patterns removed. Destructive version remove! operates directly on the given string.

str = "foo bar test"
str.remove(" test")                 # => "foo bar"
str.remove(" test", /bar/)          # => "foo "

String#truncate

Returns a copy of a given string truncated at a given length if the string is longer than the length.

'Once upon a time in a world far far away'.truncate(27)
# => "Once upon a time in a wo..."

Pass a string or regexp :separator to truncate at a natural break

'Once upon a time in a world far far away'.truncate(27, separator: ' ')
# => "Once upon a time in a..."

'Once upon a time in a world far far away'.truncate(27, separator: /\s/)
# => "Once upon a time in a..."

String#truncate_words

Returns a string truncated after a given number of words.

'Once upon a time in a world far far away'.truncate_words(4)
# => "Once upon a time..."

Pass a string or regexp to specify a different separator of words

'Once<br>upon<br>a<br>time<br>in<br>a<br>world'.truncate_words(5, separator: '<br>')
# => "Once<br>upon<br>a<br>time<br>in..."

The last characters will be replaced with the :omission string (defaults to "...")

'And they found that many people were sleeping better.'.truncate_words(5, omission: '... (continued)')
# => "And they found that many... (continued)"

String#strip_heredoc

Strips indentation in heredocs. Looks for the least-indented non-empty line and removes that amount of leading whitespace.

if options[:usage]
  puts <<-USAGE.strip_heredoc
    This command does such and such.

    Supported options are:
      -h         This message
      ...
  USAGE
end

the user would see

This command does such and such.

Supported options are:
-h         This message
...

String#pluralize

Returns of plural form of the string. Optionally takes a count parameter and returns singular form if count == 1. Also accepts a locale parameter for language-specific pluralization.

'post'.pluralize             # => "posts"
'octopus'.pluralize          # => "octopi"
'sheep'.pluralize            # => "sheep"
'words'.pluralize            # => "words"
'the blue mailman'.pluralize # => "the blue mailmen"
'CamelOctopus'.pluralize     # => "CamelOctopi"
'apple'.pluralize(1)         # => "apple"
'apple'.pluralize(2)         # => "apples"
'ley'.pluralize(:es)         # => "leyes"
'ley'.pluralize(1, :es)      # => "ley"

String#singularize

Returns the singular form of the string. Accepts an optional locale parameter.

'posts'.singularize            # => "post"
'octopi'.singularize           # => "octopus"
'sheep'.singularize            # => "sheep"
'word'.singularize             # => "word"
'the blue mailmen'.singularize # => "the blue mailman"
'CamelOctopi'.singularize      # => "CamelOctopus"
'leyes'.singularize(:es)       # => "ley"

String#constantize

Tries to find a declared constant with the name specified in the string. It raises a NameError when the name is not in CamelCase or is not initialized.

'Module'.constantize  # => Module
'Class'.constantize   # => Class
'blargle'.constantize # => NameError: wrong constant name blargle

String#safe_constantize

Performs a constantize but returns nil instead of raising NameError.

'Module'.safe_constantize  # => Module
'Class'.safe_constantize   # => Class
'blargle'.safe_constantize # => nil

String#camelize

Converts strings to UpperCamelCase by default, if :lower is given as param converts to lowerCamelCase instead.

alias: camelcase

Note: will also convert / to :: which is useful for converting paths to namespaces.

'active_record'.camelize                # => "ActiveRecord"
'active_record'.camelize(:lower)        # => "activeRecord"
'active_record/errors'.camelize         # => "ActiveRecord::Errors"
'active_record/errors'.camelize(:lower) # => "activeRecord::Errors"

String#titleize

Capitalizes all the words and replaces some characters in the string to create a nicer looking title.

alias: titlecase

'man from the boondocks'.titleize # => "Man From The Boondocks"
'x-men: the last stand'.titleize  # => "X Men: The Last Stand"

String#underscore

Makes an underscored, lowercase form from the expression in the string. The reverse of camelize.

Note: underscore will also change :: to / to convert namespaces to paths.

'ActiveModel'.underscore         # => "active_model"
'ActiveModel::Errors'.underscore # => "active_model/errors"

String#dasherize

Replaces underscores with dashes in the string.

'puni_puni'.dasherize # => "puni-puni"

String#demodulize

Removes the module part from the constant expression in the string.

'ActiveRecord::CoreExtensions::String::Inflections'.demodulize # => "Inflections"
'Inflections'.demodulize                                       # => "Inflections"
'::Inflections'.demodulize                                     # => "Inflections"
''.demodulize                                                  # => ''

String#deconstantize

Removes the rightmost segment from the constant expression in the string.

'Net::HTTP'.deconstantize   # => "Net"
'::Net::HTTP'.deconstantize # => "::Net"
'String'.deconstantize      # => ""
'::String'.deconstantize    # => ""
''.deconstantize            # => ""

String#parameterize

Replaces special characters in a string so that it may be used as part of a 'pretty' URL.

"Donald E. Knuth".parameterize # => "donald-e-knuth"

Preserve the case of the characters in a string with the :preserve_case argument.

"Donald E. Knuth".parameterize(preserve_case: true) # => "Donald-E-Knuth"

A very common use-case for parameterize is to override the to_param method of an ActiveRecord model to support more descriptive url slugs.

class Person < ActiveRecord::Base
  def to_param
    "#{id}-#{name.parameterize}"
  end
end

Person.find(1).to_param # => "1-donald-e-knuth"

String#tableize

Creates the name of a table like Rails does for models to table names. Pluralizes the last word in the string.

'RawScaledScorer'.tableize # => "raw_scaled_scorers"
'ham_and_egg'.tableize     # => "ham_and_eggs"
'fancyCategory'.tableize   # => "fancy_categories"

String#classify

Returns a class name string from a plural table name like Rails does for table names to models.

'ham_and_eggs'.classify # => "HamAndEgg"
'posts'.classify        # => "Post"

String#humanize

Capitalizes the first word, turns underscores into spaces, and strips a trailing _id if present.

'employee_salary'.humanize              # => "Employee salary"
'author_id'.humanize                    # => "Author"
'author_id'.humanize(capitalize: false) # => "author"
'_id'.humanize                          # => "Id"

String#upcase_first

Converts just the first character to uppercase.

'what a Lovely Day'.upcase_first # => "What a Lovely Day"
'w'.upcase_first                 # => "W"
''.upcase_first                  # => ""

String#foreign_key

Creates a foreign key name from a class name. Pass false param to disable adding _ between name and id.

'Message'.foreign_key        # => "message_id"
'Message'.foreign_key(false) # => "messageid"
'Admin::Post'.foreign_key    # => "post_id"