• This system uses a 16-bit encoding.
• This number can be read regardless of the platform, software or language used.

• for character strings
• for data files
• for controls that display data from character strings or data files.

• an option to define the string format at runtime in the project configuration description.
  To change the string format in the current configuration:
  
  1. Open the project description window: on the "Project" tab, in the "Project configuration" group, click "Current configuration".
  2. In the window that appears, go to the "Unicode" tab and select the desired mode: "Use ANSI strings at runtime" or "Use UNICODE strings at runtime".
• the UNICODE String type.
• conversion functions:
  These functions convert ANSI characters to Unicode and vice versa. Character strings are automatically converted (see paragraph below).
  

  Versions 09 and later AnsiToUnicode New in version 09 AnsiToUnicode AnsiToUnicode	Converts: an ANSI string (Windows) to a UNICODE string. a buffer containing an ANSI string (Windows) to a buffer containing a UNICODE string.
  Versions 10 and later StringToUTF8 New in version 10 StringToUTF8 StringToUTF8	Converts an ANSI or UNICODE string to UTF-8.
  Versions 09 and later UnicodeToAnsi New in version 09 UnicodeToAnsi UnicodeToAnsi	Converts: a UNICODE string to ANSI (Windows). a buffer containing a UNICODE string to a buffer containing an ANSI string (Windows).
  Versions 10 and later UTF8ToString New in version 10 UTF8ToString UTF8ToString	Converts a UTF-8 string to ANSI or UNICODE.
• functions to handle character strings:
  

  Versions 09 and later StringCompare New in version 09 StringCompare StringCompare	Compares two strings character by character: according to the sequence of ASCII characters. according to the alphabetical order.
  Versions 09 and later StringFormat New in version 09 StringFormat StringFormat	Formats a character string according to the selected options.
  Versions 09 and later StringCount New in version 09 StringCount StringCount	Calculates: the number of occurrences of a specific character string (by respecting the search criteria) in another character string. the number of occurrences of a set of strings in an array.
  Versions 09 and later Complete New in version 09 Complete Complete	Returns a character string of a specified length.
  Versions 09 and later CompleteDir New in version 09 CompleteDir CompleteDir	Adds a backslash to the end of a string, if necessary.
  Versions 09 and later Right New in version 09 Right Right	Extracts the right part (i.e., the last characters) from a string or buffer.
  Versions 09 and later ExtractString New in version 09 ExtractString ExtractString	Allows you to: extract a substring from a string based on a specified string separator. search for substrings in a string based on a specified string separator.
  Versions 09 and later Left New in version 09 Left Left	Extracts the left part (i.e., the first characters) from a string or buffer.
  Versions 09 and later Reverse New in version 09 Reverse Reverse	Returns the character that corresponds to the difference between the ASCII code of a specific character in a string and 255.
  Versions 09 and later Middle New in version 09 Middle Middle	Extracts: a substring from a string starting at a specified position. part of a buffer starting at a specified position.
  Versions 09 and later Position New in version 09 Position Position	Finds the position of a specified string within another string.
  Versions 09 and later PositionOccurrence New in version 09 PositionOccurrence PositionOccurrence	Finds the Xth position of a string within another string.
  Versions 09 and later Replace New in version 09 Replace Replace	Replaces all occurrences of a specified substring in a string with another specified substring.
  Versions 09 and later RepeatString New in version 09 RepeatString RepeatString	Concatenates N number of copies of the same specified string or buffer.
  Versions 09 and later NoAccent New in version 09 NoAccent NoAccent	Converts accented characters in a string to non-accented characters.
  Versions 09 and later NoSpace New in version 09 NoSpace NoSpace	Returns a string after removing the spaces: from the left and right side of the initial string. within the string.
  Versions 09 and later Length New in version 09 Length Length	Returns: the length of a string, i.e., the number of characters in the string (including spaces and binary zeros). the size of a buffer, i.e., the number of bytes in the buffer.
  Versions 09 and later TypeVar New in version 09 TypeVar TypeVar	Identifies the type of an expression, a variable (during a call to a procedure for example) or a control.
  Versions 09 and later Val New in version 09 Val Val	Returns the numeric value of a character string.
• operators to handle character strings:
  • extraction operator ([[]])
  • comparison operator (<>)
• operators to iterate over character strings:
  • FOR EACH STRING operator
  • FOR EACH POSITION operator

• functions to handle text files:
  

  fOpen	Opens an external file (ANSI or Unicode) to handle it programmatically.
  fRead	Reads a block of bytes (characters) from an external file (ANSI or UNICODE).
  fReadLine	Reads a line from an external file (ANSI or UNICODE).
  fWrite	Writes a string to an external file (ANSI or UNICODE).
  fWriteLine	Writes a line into a text file (ANSI or UNICODE).

Implicit conversions

Versions 15 and later
Starting with version 15, UNICODE strings are automatically converted when one of the following types is assigned to an HFSQL item: boolean, integer (any size, signed or unsigned), currency, numeric or real.

New in version 15
Starting with version 15, UNICODE strings are automatically converted when one of the following types is assigned to an HFSQL item: boolean, integer (any size, signed or unsigned), currency, numeric or real.

Starting with version 15, UNICODE strings are automatically converted when one of the following types is assigned to an HFSQL item: boolean, integer (any size, signed or unsigned), currency, numeric or real.