On Thu, Jun 4, 2009 at 11:52 AM, Aryeh Gregor Simetrical+wikilist@gmail.com wrote:
Note, though, that there are some that are already possible to some extent. You can use the core padright/padleft functions to emulate a couple of the added functions. E.g.:
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Template:Str_len&action=edit
<snip>
I would like to note for the record that Brion explicitly "endorsed" the padleft hack to the degree that he re-enabled it after Werdna had removed it. [1]
Maybe he'd change his mind after looking at how the "string manipulation templates" are actually getting used (now in >20,000 enwiki pages and counting), but for the moment he seems to have supported allowing some form of hacked together string manipulation system into Mediawiki. To that end it makes more sense to have a real string implementation rather than the ridiculous templates we have now.
-Robert Rohde
[1] http://svn.wikimedia.org/viewvc/mediawiki?view=rev&revision=47411