singlestring

Singlestring is a term used in computing and linguistics to describe a string that forms a single token, with no internal whitespace or delimiters. The concept is not tied to a single formal standard and its exact definition can vary by domain, but it generally refers to a string treated as an indivisible unit.

In programming, singlestring values typically represent atomic units such as identifiers, codes, or single-word labels. They contrast with multiword strings or phrases that include spaces. Many applications constrain singlestrings to a defined character set, for example letters, digits, underscores, or hyphens, and disallow spaces. Common validation patterns implement this with regular expressions, such as a pattern that permits only non-space characters within a given length.

In data modeling and input processing, singlestring constraints help ensure consistent storage, comparison, and querying. Treating certain fields as singlestrings can simplify tokenization, indexing, and validation logic, reducing ambiguity when parsing user input or exporting data.

In text processing and search, singlestrings are often treated as atomic tokens during indexing and retrieval. This simplifies matching and ranking because each singlestring corresponds to a discrete unit, such as a keyword or identifier, rather than a phrase.

See also: token, string literal, regular expression, identifier, tokenization.