string

>>-string------------------------------------------------------><

Returns a human-readable string representation of the object. The exact form of this representation depends on the object and might not alone be sufficient to reconstruct the object. All objects must be able to produce a string representation of themselves in this way.

The object's string representation is obtained from the [objectName] method (which can in turn use the [defaultName] method). See also the [objectName] method () and the [defaultName] method ().

The distinction between this method, the [makeString] method (which obtains string values—see ) and the [request] method (see ) is important. All objects have a [string] method, which returns a string representation (human-readable form) of the object. This form is useful in tracing and debugging. Only those objects that have information with a meaningful string form have a [makeString] method to return this value. For example, directory objects have a readable string representation (a Directory), but no string value, and, therefore, no [makeString] method.

Of the classes that Rexx provides, only the String class has a [makeString] method. Any subclasses of the String class inherit this method by default, so these subclasses also have string values. Any other class can also provide a string value by defining a [makeString] method.