BambooBasic provides powerful string manipulation capabilities. Strings are used for text processing, user interaction, and data formatting.

The & operator joins strings together. (For dropping values into a string without hand-joining, see String Interpolation.)

Syntax:

string1 & string2

Examples:

Function Main()
    ; Join two strings
    Local first:String = "Hello"
    Local second:String = "World"
    Local greeting:String = first & " " & second
    Print greeting  ; Output: Hello World

    ; Join multiple strings
    Local firstName:String = "Michael"
    Local lastName:String = "Denathorn"
    Local fullName:String = firstName & " " & lastName
    Print "Name: " & fullName

    ; Mix strings and spaces
    Local city:String = "New York"
    Local message:String = "Welcome to " & city & "!"
    Print message

    Return False
EndFunction

Output:

Hello World
Name: Michael Denathorn
Welcome to New York!

Use ToString() to convert numbers before concatenating:

Function Main()
    Local name:String = "Alice"
    Local age:Int = 25
    Local height:Double = 1.75

    ; Concatenate string with number
    Print name & " is " & ToString(age) & " years old"
    Print "Height: " & ToString(height) & " meters"

    ; Build complex messages
    Local score:Int = 9500
    Local message:String = "Player " & name & " scored " & ToString(score) & " points!"
    Print message

    Return False
EndFunction

Output:

Alice is 25 years old
Height: 1.75 meters
Player Alice scored 9500 points!

Important: You cannot directly concatenate numbers with strings. Always use ToString() for Int and Double values.

String literals are enclosed in double quotes:

Function Main()
    ; Simple string
    Local greeting:String = "Hello!"

    ; String with spaces
    Local phrase:String = "This is a sentence."

    ; Empty string
    Local empty:String = ""

    ; Strings with special characters
    Local path:String = "C:\Users\Documents"  ; Backslashes
    Local quote:String = "She said, 'Hello'"  ; Single quotes inside

    Print greeting
    Print phrase

    Return False
EndFunction

Function Main()
    ; Start with empty string
    Local result:String = ""

    ; Build it up
    result = result & "The "
    result = result & "quick "
    result = result & "brown "
    result = result & "fox"

    Print result  ; Output: The quick brown fox

    Return False
EndFunction

Type TPlayer
    Field name:String
    Field score:Int
    Field level:Int
EndType

Function FormatPlayerInfo:String(player:TPlayer)
    Local info:String = ""

    info = info & "Player: " & player\name
    info = info & " | Level: " & ToString(player\level)
    info = info & " | Score: " & ToString(player\score)

    Return info
EndFunction

Function Main()
    Local p:TPlayer = Create TPlayer
    p\name = "Alice"
    p\score = 9500
    p\level = 12

    Local formatted:String = FormatPlayerInfo(p)
    Print formatted

    Remove p
    Return False
EndFunction

Output:

Player: Alice | Level: 12 | Score: 9500

Function GenerateReport:String(title:String, items:Int, total:Double)
    Local report:String = ""

    ; Title
    report = report & "=== " & title & " ===" & Chr(10)

    ; Details
    report = report & "Items: " & ToString(items) & Chr(10)
    report = report & "Total: $" & ToString(total) & Chr(10)

    ; Footer
    report = report & "===================="

    Return report
EndFunction

Function Main()
    Local salesReport:String = GenerateReport("Sales Report", 42, 1250.50)
    Print salesReport

    Return False
EndFunction

Output:

=== Sales Report ===
Items: 42
Total: $1250.50
====================

Strings can be compared using standard comparison operators:

Function Main()
    Local password:String = "secret123"
    Local input:String

    Input "Enter password: ", input

    If input = password Then
        Print "Access granted!"
    Else
        Print "Access denied!"
    EndIf

    ; Compare strings
    Local name1:String = "Alice"
    Local name2:String = "Bob"

    If name1 = name2 Then
        Print "Names match"
    Else
        Print "Names differ"
    EndIf

    Return False
EndFunction

Comparison Operators:

• = - Equal to
• <>& - Not equal to
• < - Less than (alphabetical)
• > - Greater than (alphabetical)
• <= - Less than or equal to
• >= - Greater than or equal to

Function Main()
    Local name:String
    Input "Enter your name: ", name

    If name = "" Then
        Print "You didn't enter a name!"
    Else
        Print "Hello, " & name & "!"
    EndIf

    Return False
EndFunction

Function DrawBox(title:String, width:Int)
    ; Top border
    Local border:String = "+"
    For i:Int = 1 To width - 2
        border = border & "-"
    Next
    border = border & "+"
    Print border

    ; Title line
    Local titleLine:String = "| " & title
    ; Pad with spaces
    Local padding:Int = width - 4 - Len(title)
    For i:Int = 1 To padding
        titleLine = titleLine & " "
    Next
    titleLine = titleLine & " |"
    Print titleLine

    ; Bottom border
    Print border
EndFunction

Function Main()
    DrawBox("Main Menu", 30)
    Print ""
    Print "1. Start Game"
    Print "2. Options"
    Print "3. Exit"

    Return False
EndFunction

Note: This example assumes a Len() function exists. In base BambooBasic, you may need to calculate string length differently or use fixed widths.

Function FormatCurrency:String(amount:Double)
    Return "$" & ToString(amount)
EndFunction

Function FormatPercentage:String(value:Double)
    Return ToString(value) & "%"
EndFunction

Function Main()
    Local price:Double = 29.99
    Local taxRate:Double = 8.5
    Local tax:Double = price * (taxRate / 100.0)
    Local total:Double = price + tax

    Print "=== Receipt ==="
    Print "Price:    " & FormatCurrency(price)
    Print "Tax:      " & FormatCurrency(tax) & " (" & FormatPercentage(taxRate) & ")"
    Print "Total:    " & FormatCurrency(total)

    Return False
EndFunction

Output:

=== Receipt ===
Price:    $29.99
Tax:      $2.54915 (8.5%)
Total:    $32.53915

Function IsValidEmail:Int(email:String)
    ; Simple check: must contain @
    ; In real code, would be more thorough

    Local hasAt:Int = 0

    ; Check if @ symbol exists (this is simplified)
    ; In practice, you'd need string search functions

    If email <> "" Then
        hasAt = 1  ; Simplified for example
    EndIf

    Return hasAt
EndFunction

Function Main()
    Local email:String
    Local valid:Int = 0

    While valid = 0
        Input "Enter your email: ", email

        If email = "" Then
            Print "Email cannot be empty!"
        Else
            Print "Email entered: " & email
            valid = 1
        EndIf
    Wend

    Return False
EndFunction

While BambooBasic doesn't have built-in substring functions, you can process strings character by character using Chr() and Asc():

Function Main()
    Local text:String = "Hello"

    ; To process each character, you would typically use
    ; string manipulation functions from a runtime library

    Print "Text: " & text

    ; Example: Check first character
    Local firstChar:Int = Asc(text)
    Print "First character code: " & ToString(firstChar)
    Print "First character: " & Chr(firstChar)

    Return False
EndFunction

• Use descriptive variable names for string variables
• Always use ToString() when concatenating numbers
• Check for empty strings when validating input
• Build complex strings incrementally for readability
• Use Chr(10) for newlines in multi-line strings
• Initialize strings to "" before building them

• Use & operator to concatenate strings
• Always use ToString() to convert numbers to strings
• String literals use double quotes: "text"
• Empty string is ""
• Use = to compare strings
• Use Chr(10) to add newlines within strings
• Strings are compared alphabetically with <, >, etc.
• Build complex strings incrementally for clarity

• Type Conversion - ToString(), Chr(), Asc()
• Console I/O - Print, Input
• Variables & Data Types - String type & interpolation ({$name}, {%score}, {!price})
• Operators - & operator

See the String Concatenation Example for demonstrations.

BambooBasic © 2026 Michael Denathorn