starts_with

By Sheriff Docs ~ 7 min read

starts_with checks whether a string begins with a given prefix.

Overview

:starts_with returns true if the string begins with the given prefix, false otherwise.

:starts_with("hello world", "hello")   /// true
:starts_with("hello world", "world")   /// false

:starts_with("hello world", "hello")   /// true
:starts_with("hello world", "world")   /// false

Basic Usage

url | "https://sheriffcloud.com"

if :starts_with(url, "https://")
    :say("secure")
xx

url | "https://sheriffcloud.com"

if :starts_with(url, "https://")
    :say("secure")
xx

Multiple Prefixes

Pass an array to check against several prefixes at once. Returns true if the string starts with any of them.

url | "https://sheriffcloud.com"

if :starts_with(url, ["http://", "https://"])
    :say("is a web link")
xx

url | "https://sheriffcloud.com"

if :starts_with(url, ["http://", "https://"])
    :say("is a web link")
xx

This replaces chained or conditions:

/// before
if :starts_with(url, "http://") or :starts_with(url, "https://")

/// after
if :starts_with(url, ["http://", "https://"])

/// before
if :starts_with(url, "http://") or :starts_with(url, "https://")

/// after
if :starts_with(url, ["http://", "https://"])

In a Judge Dispatcher

:starts_with is especially useful as a judge condition when dispatching by prefix:

judge
    :starts_with(inner, "image:"):            resolve_image_link(inner, portal)
    :starts_with(inner, ["http://", "https://"]): resolve_external_link(inner)
    else:                                     resolve_page_link(inner, ctx, portal)
xx

judge
    :starts_with(inner, "image:"):            resolve_image_link(inner, portal)
    :starts_with(inner, ["http://", "https://"]): resolve_external_link(inner)
    else:                                     resolve_page_link(inner, ctx, portal)
xx

Signature

:starts_with(text, prefix)
:starts_with(text, [prefix1, prefix2, ...])

:starts_with(text, prefix)
:starts_with(text, [prefix1, prefix2, ...])

Argument	Type	Description
`text`	string	The string to check.
`prefix`	string or array	Prefix or list of prefixes to match.

Returns bool.