1 files changed, 79 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/include/serd/string_view.h b/include/serd/string_view.h
new file mode 100644
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--- /dev/null
+++ b/include/serd/string_view.h
@@ -0,0 +1,79 @@
+// Copyright 2011-2021 David Robillard <d@drobilla.net>
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: ISC
+
+#ifndef SERD_STRING_VIEW_H
+#define SERD_STRING_VIEW_H
+
+#include "serd/attributes.h"
+
+#include <stddef.h>
+#include <string.h>
+
+SERD_BEGIN_DECLS
+
+/**
+   @defgroup serd_string_view String View
+   @ingroup serd_utilities
+   @{
+*/
+
+/**
+   An immutable slice of a string.
+
+   This type is used for many string parameters, to allow referring to slices
+   of strings in-place and to avoid redundant string measurement.
+*/
+typedef struct {
+  const char* SERD_NONNULL buf; ///< Start of string
+  size_t                   len; ///< Length of string in bytes
+} SerdStringView;
+
+/// Return a view of an empty string
+SERD_ALWAYS_INLINE_FUNC SERD_CONST_FUNC static inline SerdStringView
+serd_empty_string(void)
+{
+  const SerdStringView view = {"", 0U};
+  return view;
+}
+
+/**
+   Return a view of a substring, or a premeasured string.
+
+   This makes either a view of a slice of a string (which may not be null
+   terminated), or a view of a string that has already been measured.  This is
+   faster than serd_string() for dynamic strings since it does not call
+   `strlen`, so should be used when the length of the string is already known.
+
+   @param str Pointer to the start of the substring.
+
+   @param len Length of the substring in bytes, not including the trailing null
+   terminator if present.
+*/
+SERD_ALWAYS_INLINE_FUNC SERD_CONST_FUNC static inline SerdStringView
+serd_substring(const char* const SERD_NONNULL str, const size_t len)
+{
+  const SerdStringView view = {str, len};
+  return view;
+}
+
+/**
+   Return a view of an entire string by measuring it.
+
+   This makes a view of the given string by measuring it with `strlen`.
+
+   @param str Pointer to the start of a null-terminated C string, or null.
+*/
+SERD_ALWAYS_INLINE_FUNC SERD_PURE_FUNC static inline SerdStringView
+// NOLINTNEXTLINE(clang-diagnostic-unused-function)
+serd_string(const char* const SERD_NULLABLE str)
+{
+  return str ? serd_substring(str, strlen(str)) : serd_empty_string();
+}
+
+/**
+   @}
+*/
+
+SERD_END_DECLS
+
+#endif // SERD_STRING_VIEW_H