Syntax

set mybool to ("zoology" starts with "zoo") -- returns true

Synonyms

start[s] with

Return value

boolean; true or false

Description

The operands for these operators must be strings or lists. If the operand to the left contains the operand to the right, then the expression returns true. If the operands do not evaluate to the same class, then AppleScript attempts to coerce the right operand to the class of the left operand. You can combine strings and lists in these statements. For example:

set mybool to ( {"string", "twine"} starts with "string" )

returns true, because AppleScript coerces the right operand to a single-item string ("{"string"}") before it makes the starts with comparison. This operator and its synonym are designed to compare operands that are either both strings or both lists, however. This operator and its sibling ends with are very handy for identifying portions of strings within larger strings. For example, if you prefixed the characters "db_" to all of your database files, then you could distinguish those files by using the begins with operator, as in the following example.

Examples

tell application "Finder"
   get count of (files whose name begins with "db_")
end tell