[REBOL] Re: to-char
From: carl:cybercraft at: 12-Feb-2002 19:24
Hi again Daniel,
On 12-Feb-02, [Izkata--aol--com] wrote:
> I've looked at all the responses so far, and
> it's almost what I wanted. Heres a better example:
> to-charblock: "Hi"
> would make:
> block: [
> H
> i
> ]
Ah - you actually want 'H and 'i there to be REBOL "word"s, not REBOL
char
acters - except they're just 1-letter words.
> then,
> H: [print "*** **** ****"]
> i: [print "*** iiii"]
> so,
> do block
> *** **** ****
> *** iiii
As you have it there, the 'do wouldn't work as you expect, as this
sesion at the REBOL Console shows...
>> block: [H i]
== [H i]
>> H: [print "*** **** ****"]
== [print "*** **** ****"]
>> i: [print "*** iiii"]
== [print "*** iiii"]
>> do block
== [print "*** iiii"]
Which isn't the result you want. However, if 'H and 'i are made to do
their block (pun not intended:) using 'does, you get what you want...
>> H: does [print "*** **** ****"]
>> i: does [print "*** iiii"]
>> do block
*** **** ****
*** iiii
(Testing stuff a bit at a time at the Console is a good way to work
things out.)
'does turns 'H and 'i into functions (without any arguments), the
difference being you'll get the result returned by the function,
whereas when they were just blocks, the block is what you get. Um,
this probably explains it better...
>> a-block: [print "something"]
== [print "something"]
>> a-block
== [print "something"]
>> a-block: does [print "something"]
>> a-block
something
Finally, to get words instead of characters into the block, you can
use 'to-word. Except it can't convert a character directly to a
word, (ie, an #"H". That's a character, whereas "H" is a string.),
so you need to convert each character in your string into a
1-character string before you can convert it into a word. I know it
sounds convoluted, but the function to do what you want is a lot
shorter than this paragraph you'll be happy to hear. (: ...
to-charblock: func [str [string!] /local blk][
blk: copy []
foreach letter str [append blk to-word to-string letter]
blk
]
You should be able to cut and paste that function directly into the
Console to test it, and assuming you can, it can be used to give
these results (as long as you've also entered the 'H and 'i functions
first in the way I suggested above)...
>> block: to-charblock "Hi"
== [H i]
>> do block
*** **** ****
*** iiii
Have we got it right now? Though don't be afraid to say no if we
haven't - it's what the list is for.
> I am going to use a combination of
> * and spaces to make a mouth that would
> 'talk' to you.
> I am going to try what was suggested, though.
> Daniel S.
--
Carl Read
