Strings

String literals are UTF-8 by default. A prefix selects another encoding; heredocs offer multi-line and verbatim variants; a $ prefix opts the string into expression interpolation.

Literals

name  = "hello"          // utf8 (default)
label = utf8"hello"      // explicit
tag   = ascii"id-007"
wide  = utf16"hello"
quad  = utf32"hello"

Escapes

Inside a double-quoted string the usual escape sequences apply: backslash, escaped quote, ` , , `. For backslash-heavy text — regexes, LaTeX, Windows paths — prefer a raw heredoc (below).

greeting = "Hello,\nworld!"        // newline embedded
quoted   = "She said \"hi\"."

Types

Plain heredocs

<<TAG ... TAG introduces a heredoc whose body runs until a line matching the closing tag. Escape sequences are interpreted, and indentation is stripped to match the closing tag's indentation, so heredocs nest comfortably inside blocks.

note = <<END
First line.
Second line.
END

Raw heredocs

A raw heredoc uses a single-quoted opening tag and takes the body verbatim — no escapes, no interpolation, just literal bytes. Ideal for LaTeX, regexes, code samples with backslashes, or anything where you do not want WCL touching the contents. Common leading whitespace is still stripped.

regex = <<'RAW'
\d{3}-\d{4}
RAW

latex = <<'TEX'
\frac{-b \pm \sqrt{b^2 - 4ac}}{2a}
TEX

Interpolation

Interpolation is opt-in: prefix the string literal with $. Inside a $"..." (or $<<TAG), ${ ... } slots evaluate any expression and splice the result into the string. Without the prefix ${...} is literal text. All four encodings accept the $ prefix.

greeting = $"Hello, ${name}! Count: ${count + 1u32}"

block = $<<MSG
You have ${len(items)} items waiting.
The first is ${head(items)}.
MSG

String helpers

The string builtins cover searching (contains, starts_with, ends_with), splitting and joining (split, join), reshaping (replace, to_upper, to_lower, trim, concat, repeat, pad_start, pad_end), and slicing (chars, slice, len — all character-indexed). See Expressions.

letters = chars("abc")            // ["a", "b", "c"]
padded  = pad_start("7", 3, "0")  // "007"
ruler   = repeat("-=", 4)         // "-=-=-=-="
prefix  = slice("hello", 0, 2)    // "he"