Lykn

String Basics

JavaScript strings are UTF-16 encoded, immutable sequences. You can’t modify a character in place — you can only create new strings. In Lykn, string literals use double quotes:

(bind greeting "Hello, World!")
(bind name "Duncan")
(bind empty "")

const greeting = "Hello, World!";
const name = "Duncan";
const empty = "";

Escape Sequences

The standard set: \" for a literal quote, \\ for a backslash, \n for newline, \t for tab, \u{1F600} for Unicode code points.

String Methods

String methods are called via colon syntax, with camelCase conversion:

(bind len name:length)                ;; → name.length
(bind upper (name:to-upper-case))     ;; → name.toUpperCase()
(bind first (name:char-at 0))         ;; → name.charAt(0)
(bind has-d (name:includes "D"))      ;; → name.includes("D")
(bind sub (name:slice 0 3))           ;; → name.slice(0, 3)

const len = name.length;
const upper = name.toUpperCase();
const first = name.charAt(0);
const hasD = name.includes("D");
const sub = name.slice(0, 3);

The camelCase conversion — to-upper-case → toUpperCase, char-at → charAt — makes method calls read naturally in both worlds. You write lisp-case; the output is idiomatic JavaScript.

JavaScript’s string API is extensive: .split(), .replace(), .match(), .trim(), .padStart(), .repeat(), .startsWith(), .endsWith(), and more. All are accessible via colon syntax. This chapter covers the pattern; the full API is in the JavaScript references.

String Comparison

Strings compare by UTF-16 code unit values with (= a b) → ===. For ordering, (< "a" "b") is true, but be aware that (< "Z" "a") is also true — uppercase letters come before lowercase in Unicode. For locale-aware sorting, use (a:locale-compare b).