String view implementation for C language

This is a simple porting of C++ std::string_view for the C programming language. This library is header-only and follows the stb-style. For more information about this style read this.

Important

This library uses C99 features (Inline functions).

#include <stdio.h>

#define STRING_VIEW_IMPLEMENTATION
#include "string_view.h"

int main(int argc, char** argv) {

    string_view_t hello = new_string_view_from_cstr("Hello string views");
    printf(STRING_VIEW_FORMAT "\n", STRING_VIEW_ARG(hello));

    return 0;
}

// Output: Hello string views

How use this library?

Simple just include it and before the include directive add #define STRING_VIEW_IMPLEMENTATION. No linking or stuff like that is needed.

Tip

If in your project string views are shared among multiple files you need to create another file and put there the implmentation of the library. See the above example:

// string_view_impl.c

#define STRING_VIEW_IMPLEMENTATION
#include "string_view.h"

// my_project_file.c

#include <stdio.h>
#include "string_view.h"

void print_view(string_view_t sv) {
  printf(STRING_VIEW_FORMAT "\n", STRING_VIEW_ARG(sv));
}

Documentation

The full documentation is situated inside the string_view.h file.

Implemented functions

Function	Brief
new_string_view	Creates a new string view from a character array and length
new_string_view_from_cstr	Creates a new string view from a null-terminated character string
string_view_data	Returns a pointer to the underlying character data of the string view
string_view_size	Returns the length of the string view
string_view_at	Returns the character at the specified index in the string view
string_view_front	Returns the first character of the string view
string_view_back	Returns the last character of the string view
string_view_is_empty	Checks if the string view is empty
string_view_trim_left	Trims whitespace characters from the beginning of a string view
string_view_trim_right	Trims whitespace characters from the end of a string view
string_view_trim	Trims whitespace characters from both ends of a string view
string_view_remove_prefix	Removes a prefix of specified length from a string view
string_view_remove_suffix	Removes a suffix of specified length from a string view
string_view_swap	Swaps the contents of two string views
string_view_copy	Copies a portion of a string view into a character array
string_view_substr	Creates a new string view that is a substring of the given string view
string_view_compare	Compares two string views lexicographically
string_view_equal	Checks if two string views are equal
string_view_starts_with	Checks if a string view starts with a given prefix
string_view_ends_with	Checks if a string view ends with a given suffix
string_view_find_char	Finds the first occurrence of a character in a string view
string_view_find_substring	Finds the first occurrence of a substring within a string view

Note

string_view_contains is dependent on the C standard version.

In C11 is defined as a macro that uses _Generic to dispatch the correct implementation.

Macro	Brief
string_view_contains	Checks if a string view contains a specified element

In C99, two separate macros are defined for character and substring checks:

Macro	Brief
string_view_contains_char	Checks if a string view contains a specific character
string_view_contains_substring	Checks if a string view contains a specific substring