# Code Smell 04 - String Abusers

*Too many parsing, exploding, regex, strcomp, strpos and string manipulation functions.*

> TL;DR: Use real abstractions and real objects instead of string accidental manipulation.

# Problems

- Complexity
- Readability
- Maintainability
- Lack of Abstractions

# Solutions

1) Work with objects instead.

2) Replace strings with data structures dealing with object relations.

3) Go back to Perl :) 

4) Find [Bijection](https://maximilianocontieri.com/the-one-and-only-software-design-principle) problems between real objects and the strings.

# Examples

-Serializers

-Parsers

# Sample Code

## Wrong

[Gist Url]: # (https://gist.github.com/mcsee/19b5965879d11e6c185d4591add24042)
```php
<?

$schoolDescription = 'College of Springfield';

preg_match('/[^ ]*$/', $schoolDescription, $results);
$location = $results[0]; // $location = 'Springfield'.

$school = preg_split('/[\s,]+/', $schoolDescription, 3)[0]; //'College'
```

## Right

[Gist Url]: # (https://gist.github.com/mcsee/9aea4a3d401b7e3c2e80101ff348dfa6)
```php
<?

class School {

    private $name;
    private $location;

    function description() {
        return $this->name . ' of ' . $this->location->name;
    }

}
```

# Detection
Automated detection is not easy. If code uses too many string functions it can trigger a warning.

# Relations

- Primitive Obsession

# More info

# Tags

- Mapping

# Conclusion

Don't abuse strings. Favor real objects. Find absent protocol to distinguish them from strings.

# Credits

Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@nshuman1291">Nathaniel Shuman</a> on <a href="https://unsplash.com/">Unsplash</a>

* * *

This article is part of the CodeSmell Series.

%[https://maximilianocontieri.com/how-to-find-the-stinky-parts-of-your-code]

*Last update: 2021/06/03*