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str.capitalize should titlecase the first character not uppercase #80730

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stevendaprano opened this issue Apr 7, 2019 · 10 comments
Closed

str.capitalize should titlecase the first character not uppercase #80730

stevendaprano opened this issue Apr 7, 2019 · 10 comments
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3.8 only security fixes easy interpreter-core (Objects, Python, Grammar, and Parser dirs) topic-unicode type-feature A feature request or enhancement

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@stevendaprano
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BPO 36549
Nosy @ezio-melotti, @stevendaprano, @serhiy-storchaka, @zooba, @ZackerySpytz, @kingdom5500
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  • bpo-36549: str.capitalize now titlecases the first character instead of uppercasing it #12804
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    Note: these values reflect the state of the issue at the time it was migrated and might not reflect the current state.

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    GitHub fields:

    assignee = None
closed_at = <Date 2019-04-12.15:36:11.742>
created_at = <Date 2019-04-07.10:40:51.722>
labels = ['interpreter-core', 'easy', 'type-feature', '3.8', 'expert-unicode']
title = 'str.capitalize should titlecase the first character not uppercase'
updated_at = <Date 2019-04-12.18:43:26.649>
user = 'https://github.com/stevendaprano'

    bugs.python.org fields:

    activity = <Date 2019-04-12.18:43:26.649>
actor = 'steve.dower'
assignee = 'none'
closed = True
closed_date = <Date 2019-04-12.15:36:11.742>
closer = 'steve.dower'
components = ['Interpreter Core', 'Unicode']
creation = <Date 2019-04-07.10:40:51.722>
creator = 'steven.daprano'
dependencies = []
files = []
hgrepos = []
issue_num = 36549
keywords = ['patch', 'easy (C)']
message_count = 10.0
messages = ['339568', '339570', '339804', '339878', '339890', '340066', '340067', '340076', '340095', '340096']
nosy_count = 6.0
nosy_names = ['ezio.melotti', 'steven.daprano', 'serhiy.storchaka', 'steve.dower', 'ZackerySpytz', 'kingsley']
pr_nums = ['12804']
priority = 'normal'
resolution = 'fixed'
stage = 'resolved'
status = 'closed'
superseder = None
type = 'enhancement'
url = 'https://bugs.python.org/issue36549'
versions = ['Python 3.8']
    @stevendaprano
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    str.capitalize appears to uppercase the first character of the string, which is okay for ASCII but not for non-English letters.

    For example, the letter NJ in Croatian appears as Nj at the start of words when the first character is capitalized:

    Njemačka ('Germany'), not NJemačka.

    (In ASCII, that's Njemacka not NJemacka.)

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaj's_Latin_alphabet#Digraphs

    But using any of:

    U+01CA LATIN CAPITAL LETTER NJ
    U+01CB LATIN CAPITAL LETTER N WITH SMALL LETTER J
    U+01CC LATIN SMALL LETTER NJ

    we get the wrong result with capitalize:

    py> 'NJemačka'.capitalize()
    'NJemačka'
    py> 'Njemačka'.capitalize()
    'NJemačka'
    py> 'njemačka'.capitalize()
    'NJemačka'

    I believe that the correct behaviour is to titlecase the first code point and lowercase the rest, which is what the Apache library here does:

    https://commons.apache.org/proper/commons-lang/apidocs/org/apache/commons/lang3/StringUtils.html#capitalize-java.lang.String-

    @serhiy-storchaka
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    I think this is a reasonable change.

    Also the docs for str.title() should be fixed.

    @serhiy-storchaka serhiy-storchaka added easy interpreter-core (Objects, Python, Grammar, and Parser dirs) topic-unicode 3.8 only security fixes type-feature A feature request or enhancement labels Apr 7, 2019
    @kingdom5500
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    kingdom5500 mannequin commented Apr 9, 2019

    Hello there,

    I'm an absolute beginner here and this whole thing is a little overwhelming, so please bear with me. I think this would be a suitable first task for me to take on because it appears to be a simple one-line change (correct me if I'm mistaken, though).

    @serhiy-storchaka
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    This issue is easy if you know C.

    • Find the implementation of str.capitalize in unicodeobject.c and make it using the title case. See on the implementation of str.title for example.

    • Find tests for str.capitalize and aďd new cases. Finding the proper place for test may be the hardest part.

    • Update the documentation for str.capitalize. Add the versionchanged directive.

    • Fix the documentation for str.title. Use str.capitalize in the example.

    • Add the news and What's New entries.

    @kingdom5500
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    kingdom5500 mannequin commented Apr 10, 2019

    Thanks for clarifying all of that! I now have the patch and tests working locally. However, I'm not too sure what documentation needs to be changed for str.title. Should it specify that only the first letter of digraphs are capitalised, rather than the full character?
    I sure hope I get the hang of this soon :-D

    @zooba
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    zooba commented Apr 12, 2019

    New changeset b015fc8 by Steve Dower (Kingsley M) in branch 'master':
    bpo-36549: str.capitalize now titlecases the first character instead of uppercasing it (GH-12804)
    b015fc8

    @zooba
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    zooba commented Apr 12, 2019

    Thanks! I'm a big fan of this change :)

    @zooba zooba closed this as completed Apr 12, 2019
    @ZackerySpytz
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    ZackerySpytz mannequin commented Apr 12, 2019

    I think that the PR may have been merged too quickly. Serhiy had made a list, and I think that the PR was missing some necessary changes.

    @zooba
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    zooba commented Apr 12, 2019

    What is missing? It looks like everything on Serhiy's list was done.

    @zooba
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    zooba commented Apr 12, 2019

    Oh, apart from the What's New section. But this looks enough like a bugfix (previous behaviour "wasn't capitalizing my name correctly" - new behaviour "now capitalizes my name correctly") that it's hardly critical to advertise it on that page.

    @ezio-melotti ezio-melotti transferred this issue from another repository Apr 10, 2022
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