Feature: Add basic Quality of Life functions to C++ like to_lower, to_upper, etc.

[Jaegermeiste]

Some basic QoL functions would be extremely useful in C++, like to_lower and to_upper, rather than attempting to use the C functions. Below are simple examples floating in the namespace, though perhaps they are better as members of string/string_view.

namespace ashvardanian::stringzilla {

	// 256‑entry table mapping each byte to its lowercase:
	//   ‑ ASCII 'A'–'Z' (0x41–0x5A) → 'a'–'z' (0x61–0x7A)
	//   ‑ all other bytes unchanged
	static constexpr std::array<unsigned char, 256> LOWER_LUT = { {
		0x00, 0x01, 0x02, 0x03, 0x04, 0x05, 0x06, 0x07,
		0x08, 0x09, 0x0A, 0x0B, 0x0C, 0x0D, 0x0E, 0x0F,
		0x10, 0x11, 0x12, 0x13, 0x14, 0x15, 0x16, 0x17,
		0x18, 0x19, 0x1A, 0x1B, 0x1C, 0x1D, 0x1E, 0x1F,
		0x20, 0x21, 0x22, 0x23, 0x24, 0x25, 0x26, 0x27,
		0x28, 0x29, 0x2A, 0x2B, 0x2C, 0x2D, 0x2E, 0x2F,
		0x30, 0x31, 0x32, 0x33, 0x34, 0x35, 0x36, 0x37,
		0x38, 0x39, 0x3A, 0x3B, 0x3C, 0x3D, 0x3E, 0x3F,
		0x40, 0x61, 0x62, 0x63, 0x64, 0x65, 0x66, 0x67,
		0x68, 0x69, 0x6A, 0x6B, 0x6C, 0x6D, 0x6E, 0x6F,
		0x70, 0x71, 0x72, 0x73, 0x74, 0x75, 0x76, 0x77,
		0x78, 0x79, 0x7A, 0x5B, 0x5C, 0x5D, 0x5E, 0x5F,
		0x60, 0x61, 0x62, 0x63, 0x64, 0x65, 0x66, 0x67,
		0x68, 0x69, 0x6A, 0x6B, 0x6C, 0x6D, 0x6E, 0x6F,
		0x70, 0x71, 0x72, 0x73, 0x74, 0x75, 0x76, 0x77,
		0x78, 0x79, 0x7A, 0x7B, 0x7C, 0x7D, 0x7E, 0x7F,
		0x80, 0x81, 0x82, 0x83, 0x84, 0x85, 0x86, 0x87,
		0x88, 0x89, 0x8A, 0x8B, 0x8C, 0x8D, 0x8E, 0x8F,
		0x90, 0x91, 0x92, 0x93, 0x94, 0x95, 0x96, 0x97,
		0x98, 0x99, 0x9A, 0x9B, 0x9C, 0x9D, 0x9E, 0x9F,
		0xA0, 0xA1, 0xA2, 0xA3, 0xA4, 0xA5, 0xA6, 0xA7,
		0xA8, 0xA9, 0xAA, 0xAB, 0xAC, 0xAD, 0xAE, 0xAF,
		0xB0, 0xB1, 0xB2, 0xB3, 0xB4, 0xB5, 0xB6, 0xB7,
		0xB8, 0xB9, 0xBA, 0xBB, 0xBC, 0xBD, 0xBE, 0xBF,
		0xC0, 0xC1, 0xC2, 0xC3, 0xC4, 0xC5, 0xC6, 0xC7,
		0xC8, 0xC9, 0xCA, 0xCB, 0xCC, 0xCD, 0xCE, 0xCF,
		0xD0, 0xD1, 0xD2, 0xD3, 0xD4, 0xD5, 0xD6, 0xD7,
		0xD8, 0xD9, 0xDA, 0xDB, 0xDC, 0xDD, 0xDE, 0xDF,
		0xE0, 0xE1, 0xE2, 0xE3, 0xE4, 0xE5, 0xE6, 0xE7,
		0xE8, 0xE9, 0xEA, 0xEB, 0xEC, 0xED, 0xEE, 0xEF,
		0xF0, 0xF1, 0xF2, 0xF3, 0xF4, 0xF5, 0xF6, 0xF7,
		0xF8, 0xF9, 0xFA, 0xFB, 0xFC, 0xFD, 0xFE, 0xFF
	} };

	// 256‑entry table mapping each byte to its uppercase:
        //   ‑ ASCII 'a'–'z' (0x61–0x7A) → 'A'–'Z' (0x41–0x5A)
        //   ‑ all other bytes unchanged
	static constexpr std::array<unsigned char, 256> UPPER_LUT = { {
		0x00, 0x01, 0x02, 0x03, 0x04, 0x05, 0x06, 0x07,
		0x08, 0x09, 0x0A, 0x0B, 0x0C, 0x0D, 0x0E, 0x0F,
		0x10, 0x11, 0x12, 0x13, 0x14, 0x15, 0x16, 0x17,
		0x18, 0x19, 0x1A, 0x1B, 0x1C, 0x1D, 0x1E, 0x1F,
		0x20, 0x21, 0x22, 0x23, 0x24, 0x25, 0x26, 0x27,
		0x28, 0x29, 0x2A, 0x2B, 0x2C, 0x2D, 0x2E, 0x2F,
		0x30, 0x31, 0x32, 0x33, 0x34, 0x35, 0x36, 0x37,
		0x38, 0x39, 0x3A, 0x3B, 0x3C, 0x3D, 0x3E, 0x3F,
		0x40, 0x41, 0x42, 0x43, 0x44, 0x45, 0x46, 0x47,
		0x48, 0x49, 0x4A, 0x4B, 0x4C, 0x4D, 0x4E, 0x4F,
		0x50, 0x51, 0x52, 0x53, 0x54, 0x55, 0x56, 0x57,
		0x58, 0x59, 0x5A, 0x5B, 0x5C, 0x5D, 0x5E, 0x5F,
		0x60, 0x41, 0x42, 0x43, 0x44, 0x45, 0x46, 0x47,
		0x48, 0x49, 0x4A, 0x4B, 0x4C, 0x4D, 0x4E, 0x4F,
		0x50, 0x51, 0x52, 0x53, 0x54, 0x55, 0x56, 0x57,
		0x58, 0x59, 0x5A, 0x7B, 0x7C, 0x7D, 0x7E, 0x7F,
		0x80, 0x81, 0x82, 0x83, 0x84, 0x85, 0x86, 0x87,
		0x88, 0x89, 0x8A, 0x8B, 0x8C, 0x8D, 0x8E, 0x8F,
		0x90, 0x91, 0x92, 0x93, 0x94, 0x95, 0x96, 0x97,
		0x98, 0x99, 0x9A, 0x9B, 0x9C, 0x9D, 0x9E, 0x9F,
		0xA0, 0xA1, 0xA2, 0xA3, 0xA4, 0xA5, 0xA6, 0xA7,
		0xA8, 0xA9, 0xAA, 0xAB, 0xAC, 0xAD, 0xAE, 0xAF,
		0xB0, 0xB1, 0xB2, 0xB3, 0xB4, 0xB5, 0xB6, 0xB7,
		0xB8, 0xB9, 0xBA, 0xBB, 0xBC, 0xBD, 0xBE, 0xBF,
		0xC0, 0xC1, 0xC2, 0xC3, 0xC4, 0xC5, 0xC6, 0xC7,
		0xC8, 0xC9, 0xCA, 0xCB, 0xCC, 0xCD, 0xCE, 0xCF,
		0xD0, 0xD1, 0xD2, 0xD3, 0xD4, 0xD5, 0xD6, 0xD7,
		0xD8, 0xD9, 0xDA, 0xDB, 0xDC, 0xDD, 0xDE, 0xDF,
		0xE0, 0xE1, 0xE2, 0xE3, 0xE4, 0xE5, 0xE6, 0xE7,
		0xE8, 0xE9, 0xEA, 0xEB, 0xEC, 0xED, 0xEE, 0xEF,
		0xF0, 0xF1, 0xF2, 0xF3, 0xF4, 0xF5, 0xF6, 0xF7,
		0xF8, 0xF9, 0xFA, 0xFB, 0xFC, 0xFD, 0xFE, 0xFF
	} };

	// The `lower_lut_wrapper` class is a wrapper around the `sz::look_up_table` class.
	class lower_lut_wrapper : public ashvardanian::stringzilla::look_up_table {
	public:
		static constexpr const unsigned char* raw() noexcept {
			return LOWER_LUT.data();
		}
	};

	// The `upper_lut_wrapper` class is a wrapper around the `sz::look_up_table` class.
	class upper_lut_wrapper : public ashvardanian::stringzilla::look_up_table {
	public:
		static constexpr const unsigned char* raw() noexcept {
			return UPPER_LUT.data();
		}
	};

	// Return an ASCII lower case version of the input
	inline sz::string to_lower(const sz::string_view& input) {
		sz::string output(input);
		sz::basic_string_slice slice{
			output.data(), output.size()
		};
		sz::transform(slice, lower_lut_wrapper{});
		return output;
	}

	// Return an ASCII upper case version of the input
	inline sz::string to_upper(const sz::string_view& input) {
		sz::string output(input);
		sz::basic_string_slice slice{
			output.data(), output.size()
		};
		sz::transform(slice, upper_lut_wrapper{});
		return output;
	}

Can you contribute to the implementation?

• [x] I can contribute

Is your feature request specific to a certain interface?

C++ bindings

Contact Details

[email protected]

Is there an existing issue for this?

• [x] I have searched the existing issues

Code of Conduct

• [x] I agree to follow this project's Code of Conduct

[ashvardanian]

We can definitely add them to the C++ interface. Free-standing functions may be a better option than member functions, assuming the conversion rules really depend on the character type and would be different for generic UTF-8 runes.

Would you like to open a PR? If so, please take the main-dev branch 🤗

[MacOS]

Hi all,

I am happy to give it a shot.

[ashvardanian]

Please do, @MacOS! Will be waiting for a PR 🤗

[ashvardanian]

FYI: I'd recommend using the "translate" look-up transform functionality from the C layer.

[ashvardanian]

Hi @MacOS! Any progress?

[albertedwardson]

worth looking: https://lemire.me/blog/2024/08/03/converting-ascii-strings-to-lower-case-at-crazy-speeds-with-avx-512/