Strings

A string literal may contain any unicode characters between single or double-quotes, with the exception of a few special characters that must be escaped:

Strings can also contain the following types of escape sequences:

• An octal escape code starts with \, followed by 3 digits of value 0 through 7 inclusive.
• A hexadecimal escape code starts with \x, followed by 2 hexadecimal digits 0-9a-fA-F.
• A unicode code point starts with \u followed by 4 hexadecimal characters or \U followed by 8 hexadecimal characters 0-9a-fA-F.

§Multi-line Strings

Strings that begin with <<< and end with >>> may span multiple lines.

Example: multiline_strings1.wdl

version 1.3

workflow multiline_strings1 {
  output {
    String s = <<<
      This is a
      multi-line string!
    >>>
  }
}

{}

{
  "multiline_strings1.s": "This is a\nmulti-line string!"
}

In multi-line strings, leading whitespace is removed according to the following rules. In the context of multi-line strings, whitespace refers to space (\x20) and tab characters only and is treated differently from newline characters.

1. Remove all line continuations and subsequent white space.
   • A line continuation is a backslash (\) immediately preceding the newline. A line continuation indicates that two consecutive lines are actually the same line (e.g. when breaking a long line for better readability).
   • If a line ends in multiple \ then standard character escaping applies. Each pair of consecutive backslashes (\\) is an escaped backslash. So a line is continued only if it ends in an odd number of backslashes.
   • Removing a line continuation means removing the last \ character, the immediately following newline, and all the whitespace preceeding the next non-whitespace character or end of line (whichever comes first).
2. Remove all whitespace following the opening <<<, up to and including a newline (if any).
3. Remove all whitespace preceeding the closing >>>, up to and including a newline (if any).
4. Use all remaining non-blank lines to determine the common leading whitespace.
   • A blank line contains zero or more whitespace characters followed by a newline.
   • Common leading whitespace is the minimum number of whitespace characters occuring before the first non-whitespace character in a non-blank line.
   • Each whitespace character is counted once regardless of whether it is a space or tab (so care should be taken when mixing whitespace characters).
5. Remove common leading whitespace from each line.

Example: multiline_strings2.wdl

version 1.3

workflow multiline_strings2 {
  output {
    # all of these strings evaluate to "hello  world"
    String hw0 = "hello  world"
    String hw1 = <<<hello  world>>>
    String hw2 = <<<   hello  world   >>>
    String hw3 = <<<
        hello  world>>>
    String hw4 = <<<
        hello  world
        >>>
    String hw5 = <<<
        hello  world
    >>>
    # The line continuation causes the newline and all whitespace preceding 'world' to be
    # removed - to put two spaces between 'hello' and world' we need to put them before
    # the line continuation.
    String hw6 = <<<
        hello  \
            world
    >>>

    # This string is not equivalent - the first line ends in two backslashes, which is an
    # escaped backslash, not a line continuation. So this string evaluates to
    # "hello \\\n  world".
    String not_equivalent = <<<
    hello \\
      world
    >>>
  }
}

{}

{
  "multiline_strings2.hw0": "hello  world",
  "multiline_strings2.hw1": "hello  world",
  "multiline_strings2.hw2": "hello  world",
  "multiline_strings2.hw3": "hello  world",
  "multiline_strings2.hw4": "hello  world",
  "multiline_strings2.hw5": "hello  world",
  "multiline_strings2.hw6": "hello  world",
  "multiline_strings2.not_equivalent": "hello \\\n  world"
}

Common leading whitespace is also removed from blank lines that contain whitespace characters; newlines are not removed from blank lines. This means blank lines may be used to ensure that a multi-line string begins/ends with a newline.

Example: multiline_strings3.wdl

version 1.3

workflow multiline_strings3 {
  output {
    # These strings are all equivalent. In strings B, C, and D, the middle lines are blank and
    # so do not count towards the common leading whitespace determination.

    String multi_line_A = "\nthis is a\n\n  multi-line string\n"

    # This string's common leading whitespace is 0.
    String multi_line_B = <<<

    this is a

      multi-line string

    >>>

    # This string's common leading whitespace is 2. The middle blank line contains two spaces
    # that are also removed.
    String multi_line_C = <<<

      this is a

        multi-line string

    >>>

    # This string's common leading whitespace is 8.
    String multi_line_D = <<<

            this is a

              multi-line string

    >>>
  }
}

{}

{
  "multiline_strings3.multi_line_A": "\nthis is a\n\n  multi-line string\n",
  "multiline_strings3.multi_line_B": "\nthis is a\n\n  multi-line string\n",
  "multiline_strings3.multi_line_C": "\nthis is a\n\n  multi-line string\n",
  "multiline_strings3.multi_line_D": "\nthis is a\n\n  multi-line string\n"
}

Single- and double-quotes do not need to be escaped within a multi-line string.

Example: multiline_strings4.wdl

version 1.3

workflow multiline_strings4 {
  output {
    String multi_line_with_quotes = <<<
      multi-line string \
      with 'single' and "double" quotes
    >>>
  }
}

{}

{
  "multiline_strings4.multi_line_with_quotes": "multi-line string with 'single' and \"double\" quotes"
}