String Utilities

Lightpack’s Str utility class offers a comprehensive set of methods for string manipulation, formatting, validation, and generation. It is designed to cover common and advanced string operations with a clear, expressive API and robust error handling.

Inflection & Naming

• singularize() / pluralize(): Convert between singular and plural forms.

  str()->singularize('quizzes'); // quiz
  str()->pluralize('quiz');      // quizzes

• pluralizeIf(): Pluralizes only if a number > 1.

  str()->pluralizeIf(2, 'role'); // roles

• camelize() / variable(): Convert to PascalCase or camelCase.

  str()->camelize('my_class');   // MyClass
  str()->variable('MyClass');    // myClass

• underscore() / dasherize(): snake_case or kebab-case.

  str()->underscore('MyClass');  // my_class
  str()->dasherize('MyClass');   // my-class

• humanize() / headline(): Human-readable or title-cased.

  str()->humanize('lazy_brown_fox'); // Lazy brown fox
  str()->headline('lazyBrownFox');   // Lazy Brown Fox

• tableize() / classify() / foreignKey() / ordinalize(): Naming for DB tables, classes, keys, ordinals.

  str()->tableize('UserGroup');   // user_groups
  str()->classify('user_groups'); // UserGroup
  str()->foreignKey('User');      // user_id
  str()->ordinalize(21);          // 21st

Slugs & URL Helpers

• slug(): URL-friendly slugs from any string (UTF-8 safe, customizable separator).

  str()->slug('Über grünen!'); // uber-grunen
  str()->slug('Hello World', '_'); // hello_world

• slugify(): (Deprecated) Use slug() instead.

String Checks

• startsWith() / endsWith() / contains(): Substring checks.

  str()->startsWith('admin/products', 'admin'); // true
  str()->endsWith('file.txt', '.txt');          // true
  str()->contains('hello world', 'world');      // true

Random, Masking, and Truncation

• random(): Cryptographically secure random hex string.

  str()->random(16); // e.g. '9f2d4b1a...'

• mask(): Obfuscate part of a string (e.g., credit cards).

  str()->mask('KEYSECRET', '*', 3); // 'KEY***'

• truncate() / limit() / excerpt(): Truncate by length, words, or create readable excerpts.

  str()->truncate('Hello World', 5); // Hello...
  str()->limit('one two three four', 2); // one two...
  str()->excerpt('This is a very long text', 10); // This is a...

Padding & Casing

• pad(): Pad string to a given length (left, right, both).
• title() / upper() / lower(): Title, upper, or lower case (UTF-8 safe).

  str()->title('über grünen'); // Über Grünen
  str()->upper('hello');       // HELLO
  str()->lower('HELLO');       // hello

HTML & Content Helpers

• escape(): HTML-escape a string.

  str()->escape('<h1>Hello</h1>'); // &lt;h1&gt;Hello&lt;/h1&gt;

• strip(): Remove all HTML tags (including script/style content).

  str()->strip('<p>Hello</p>'); // Hello

Validation Helpers

• isEmail() / isUrl() / isIp() / isHex() / isUuid() / isDomain() / isBase64() / isMimeType() / isPath() / isJson()

  str()->isEmail('test@example.com'); // true
  str()->isHex('#ff0033');            // true
  str()->isJson('{"a":1}');         // true

File & Path Helpers

• filename() / stem() / ext() / dir(): Extract file name, stem, extension, or directory.

  str()->filename('/path/to/file.txt'); // file.txt
  str()->stem('/path/to/file.txt');     // file
  str()->ext('/path/to/file.txt');      // txt
  str()->dir('/path/to/file.txt');      // /path/to

Character Filters

• alphanumeric() / alpha() / number(): Keep only specific character types.

  str()->alphanumeric('Hello, World! 123'); // HelloWorld123
  str()->alpha('Hello123');                 // Hello
  str()->number('Price: $123.45');          // 12345

• collapse(): Replace multiple whitespace with a single space.

  str()->collapse('Hello   World'); // Hello World

• initials(): Generate initials from a name.

  str()->initials('John Doe'); // JD

One-Time Password (OTP)

• otp(): Generate a numeric OTP of specified length (default: 6).

  str()->otp();    // e.g. '123456'
  str()->otp(8);   // e.g. '12345678'

  • Throws InvalidArgumentException if length < 1.

For more complex OTP generation, Lightpack provides a robust OTP utility OTP Utility