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# QTextBoundaryFinder Class Reference
[QtCore module]

The QTextBoundaryFinder class provides a way of finding Unicode text boundaries in a string. More...

     #include <QTextBoundaryFinder>

Note: All the functions in this class are reentrant.

This class was introduced in Qt 4.4.

- List of all members, including inherited members

### Public Types

- enum BoundaryReason { NotAtBoundary, StartWord, EndWord }
- flags BoundaryReasons
- enum BoundaryType { Grapheme, Word, Line, Sentence }

### Public Functions

- QTextBoundaryFinder ()
- QTextBoundaryFinder ( const QTextBoundaryFinder & other )
- QTextBoundaryFinder ( BoundaryType type, const QString & string )
- QTextBoundaryFinder ( BoundaryType type, const QChar * chars, int length, unsigned char * buffer = 0, int bufferSize = 0 )
- ~QTextBoundaryFinder ()
- BoundaryReasons boundaryReasons () const
- bool isAtBoundary () const
- bool isValid () const
- int position () const
- void setPosition ( int position )
- QString string () const
- void toEnd ()
- int toNextBoundary ()
- int toPreviousBoundary ()
- void toStart ()
- BoundaryType type () const
- QTextBoundaryFinder & operator= ( const QTextBoundaryFinder & other )

## Detailed Description

The QTextBoundaryFinder class provides a way of finding Unicode text boundaries in a string.

QTextBoundaryFinder allows to find Unicode text boundaries in a string, similar to the Unicode text boundary specification (see http://www.unicode.org/reports/tr29/tr29-11.html).

QTextBoundaryFinder can operate on a QString in four possible modes depending on the value of BoundaryType.

Units of Unicode characters that make up what the user thinks of as a character or basic unit of the language are here called Grapheme clusters. The two unicode characters 'A' + diaeresis do for example form one grapheme cluster as the user thinks of them as one character, yet it is in this case represented by two unicode code points.

Word boundaries are there to locate the start and end of what a language considers to be a word.

Line break boundaries give possible places where a line break might happen and sentence boundaries will show the beginning and end of whole sentences.

## Member Type Documentation

### enum QTextBoundaryFinder::BoundaryReason
flags QTextBoundaryFinder::BoundaryReasons

Constant | Value | Description
--- | --- | ---
`QTextBoundaryFinder::NotAtBoundary` | `0` | The boundary finder is not at a boundary position.
`QTextBoundaryFinder::StartWord` | `1` | The boundary finder is at the start of a word.
`QTextBoundaryFinder::EndWord` | `2` | The boundary finder is at the end of a word.

The BoundaryReasons type is a typedef for QFlags<BoundaryReason>. It stores an OR combination of BoundaryReason values.

### enum QTextBoundaryFinder::BoundaryType

Constant | Value | Description
--- | --- | ---
`QTextBoundaryFinder::Grapheme` | `0` | Finds a grapheme which is the smallest boundary. It including letters, punctation marks, numerals and more.
`QTextBoundaryFinder::Word` | `1` | Finds a word.
`QTextBoundaryFinder::Line` | `2` | Finds possible positions for breaking the text into multiple lines.
`QTextBoundaryFinder::Sentence` | `3` | Finds sentence boundaries. These include periods, question marks etc.

## Member Function Documentation

### QTextBoundaryFinder::QTextBoundaryFinder ()

Constructs an invalid QTextBoundaryFinder object.

### QTextBoundaryFinder::QTextBoundaryFinder ( const QTextBoundaryFinder & other )

Copies the QTextBoundaryFinder object, other.

### QTextBoundaryFinder::QTextBoundaryFinder ( BoundaryType type, const QString & string )

Creates a QTextBoundaryFinder object of type operating on string.

### QTextBoundaryFinder::QTextBoundaryFinder ( BoundaryType type, const QChar * chars, int length, unsigned char * buffer = 0, int bufferSize = 0 )

Creates a QTextBoundaryFinder object of type operating on chars with length.

buffer is an optional working buffer of size bufferSize you can pass to the QTextBoundaryFinder. If the buffer is large enough to hold the working data required, it will use this instead of allocating its own buffer.

Warning: QTextBoundaryFinder does not create a copy of chars. It is the application programmer's responsability to ensure the array is allocated for as long as the QTextBoundaryFinder object stays alive. The same applies to buffer.

### QTextBoundaryFinder::~QTextBoundaryFinder ()

Destructs the QTextBoundaryFinder object.

### BoundaryReasons QTextBoundaryFinder::boundaryReasons () const

Returns the reasons for the boundary finder to have chosen the current position as a boundary.

### bool QTextBoundaryFinder::isAtBoundary () const

Returns true if the object's position() is currently at a valid text boundary.

### bool QTextBoundaryFinder::isValid () const

Returns true if the text boundary finder is valid; otherwise returns false. A default QTextBoundaryFinder is invalid.

### int QTextBoundaryFinder::position () const

Returns the current position of the QTextBoundaryFinder.

The range is from 0 (the beginning of the string) to the length of the string inclusive.

See also setPosition().

### void QTextBoundaryFinder::setPosition ( int position )

Sets the current position of the QTextBoundaryFinder to position.

If position is out of bounds, it will be bound to only valid positions. In this case, valid positions are from 0 to the length of the string inclusive.

See also position().

### QString QTextBoundaryFinder::string () const

Returns the string the QTextBoundaryFinder object operates on.

### void QTextBoundaryFinder::toEnd ()

Moves the finder to the end of the string. This is equivalent to setPosition(string.length()).

See also setPosition() and position().

### int QTextBoundaryFinder::toNextBoundary ()

Moves the QTextBoundaryFinder to the next boundary position and returns that position.

Returns -1 is there is no next boundary.

### int QTextBoundaryFinder::toPreviousBoundary ()

Moves the QTextBoundaryFinder to the previous boundary position and returns that position.

Returns -1 is there is no previous boundary.

### void QTextBoundaryFinder::toStart ()

Moves the finder to the start of the string. This is equivalent to setPosition(0).

See also setPosition() and position().

### BoundaryType QTextBoundaryFinder::type () const

Returns the type of the QTextBoundaryFinder.

### QTextBoundaryFinder & QTextBoundaryFinder::operator= ( const QTextBoundaryFinder & other )

Assigns the object, other, to another QTextBoundaryFinder object.