icu4r 0.1.3.2006.01.26

data/ustring.c

@@ -0,0 +1,3042 @@
+/**
+ *  ustring.c - ICU based Unicode string support.
+ * 
+ * $Id: ustring.c,v 1.20 2006/01/23 14:26:45 meadow Exp $
+ *
+ * Copyright (c) 2006 Nikolai Lugovoi
+ *
+ * This code is based on original ruby String class source (string.c):
+ *
+ *  * string.c -
+ *  *
+ *  * Copyright (C) 1993-2003 Yukihiro Matsumoto
+ *  * Copyright (C) 2000  Network Applied Communication Laboratory, Inc.
+ *  * Copyright (C) 2000  Information-technology Promotion Agency, Japan
+ *  *
+ **/  
+
+#include "icu_common.h"
+VALUE           icu_ustr_replace(VALUE str, VALUE str2);
+VALUE		ustr_gsub(int argc, VALUE * argv, VALUE str, int bang, int once);
+extern VALUE icu_from_rstr(int argc, VALUE * argv, VALUE str);
+
+ VALUE rb_cURegexp;
+ VALUE rb_cUString;
+ VALUE rb_cUMatch;
+ VALUE rb_cUResourceBundle;
+ VALUE rb_cULocale;
+ VALUE rb_cUCalendar;
+ 
+#include "uregex.h"
+
+
+/* to be used in <=>, casecmp */
+static UCollator * s_UCA_collator, * s_case_UCA_collator;
+
+static void
+free_ustr(str)
+     ICUString      *str;
+{
+    if (str->ptr)
+	free(str->ptr);
+    str->ptr = 0;
+    free(str);
+}
+inline void icu_check_frozen(VALUE str)
+{
+	rb_check_frozen(str);
+	if(USTRING(str)->busy) rb_raise(rb_eRuntimeError, "String is busy. Can't modify");
+}
+#define START_BUF_LEN  16
+/**
+ * Allocate ICUString struct with given +capa+ capacity,
+ * if mode == 1 and UChar != 0 - copy len UChars from src,
+ * else set pointer to src.
+ */
+#define   ICU_COPY   1
+#define   ICU_SET    0
+VALUE icu_ustr_alloc_and_wrap(UChar * src, long len, long capa, int mode) 
+{
+    ICUString      *n_str = ALLOC_N(ICUString, 1);
+    size_t 		alloc_capa;
+    if( mode == ICU_COPY ) {
+    	alloc_capa = START_BUF_LEN > capa ? START_BUF_LEN : capa;
+	if(alloc_capa<=len) alloc_capa = len + 1;
+    	n_str->ptr = ALLOC_N(UChar, alloc_capa);
+	n_str->capa = alloc_capa;
+    	n_str->len = len;
+	if( src ) {
+		u_memcpy(n_str->ptr, src, len);  
+		n_str->ptr[len] = 0;
+	} 
+    } else {
+    	n_str->ptr = src;
+	n_str->len = len;
+	n_str->capa = capa;
+    }
+     if(n_str->capa <= n_str->len) rb_raise(rb_eRuntimeError, "Capacity is not large then len, sentinel can't be set!");
+    n_str->busy = 0;
+    n_str->ptr[n_str->len] = 0;
+    return Data_Wrap_Struct(rb_cUString, 0, free_ustr, n_str);
+}
+VALUE
+icu_ustr_alloc(klass)
+     VALUE           klass;
+{
+	return icu_ustr_alloc_and_wrap(NULL, 0, 0, ICU_COPY);
+}
+
+void ustr_capa_resize(ICUString * str, long new_capa)
+{
+    if (new_capa != str->capa) {
+	if (str->capa < new_capa || (str->capa - new_capa > 1024)) {
+	    if(new_capa < START_BUF_LEN) new_capa = START_BUF_LEN;
+	    REALLOC_N(str->ptr, UChar, new_capa);
+	    str->capa = new_capa;
+	}
+    }
+}
+/* delete +del_len+ units from string and insert replacement */
+void ustr_splice_units(ICUString * str, long start, long del_len, const UChar * replacement, long repl_len)
+{
+   long new_len;
+   UChar * temp  = 0 ;
+   if( str->busy ) {
+   	rb_warn("Attempt to modify busy string. Ignored");
+	return;
+   }
+   if( repl_len < 0) return;
+   if( del_len == 0 && repl_len == 0) return;
+   new_len = str->len - del_len + repl_len;
+   if (replacement == str->ptr ) { 
+       temp = ALLOC_N(UChar, repl_len);
+       u_memcpy(temp, replacement, repl_len);
+       replacement = temp;
+   }
+   if ( repl_len >= del_len) ustr_capa_resize(str, new_len+1);
+   /* move tail */
+   if(str->len - (start+del_len) > 0) { 
+      u_memmove(str->ptr + start+repl_len, str->ptr + start+del_len, str->len-(start+del_len) );
+   }
+   /* copy string */
+   if( repl_len > 0) u_memcpy(str->ptr+start, replacement, repl_len);
+   if ( repl_len < del_len)  ustr_capa_resize(str, new_len+1);
+   str->len = new_len;
+   str->ptr[new_len] = 0;
+   if(temp) {
+     free(temp);
+   }
+}
+static inline void
+ustr_mod_check(VALUE s, UChar *p, long len)
+{
+    if (ICU_PTR(s) != p || ICU_LEN(s) != len){
+	rb_raise(rb_eRuntimeError, "string modified");
+    }
+}
+VALUE
+ustr_new(klass, ptr, len)
+     VALUE           klass;
+     UChar    *ptr;
+     long            len;
+{   
+    if (len < 0) {
+	rb_raise(rb_eArgError, "negative string size (or size too big)");
+    }
+    return icu_ustr_alloc_and_wrap(ptr, len, len+1, ICU_COPY);
+}
+
+VALUE
+icu_ustr_new(ptr, len)
+     const UChar    *ptr;
+     long            len;
+{
+    return ustr_new(rb_cUString, ptr, len);
+}
+VALUE
+icu_ustr_new_set(ptr, len, capa)
+     UChar    *ptr;
+     long            len;
+     long 	     capa;
+{
+	return icu_ustr_alloc_and_wrap(ptr, len, capa, ICU_SET);
+}
+VALUE
+icu_ustr_new2(ptr)
+     const UChar    *ptr;
+{
+    if (!ptr) {
+	rb_raise(rb_eArgError, "NULL pointer given");
+    }
+    return icu_ustr_new(ptr, u_strlen(ptr));
+}
+
+inline VALUE
+icu_ustr_new_capa(UChar * ptr, long len, long capa) 
+{
+	return icu_ustr_alloc_and_wrap(ptr, len, capa, ICU_COPY);
+}
+
+/* ------------ */
+
+/**
+ *  call-seq:
+ *     UString.new(str="".u)   => new_str
+ *  
+ *  Returns a new string object containing a copy of <i>str</i>.
+ */
+
+VALUE
+icu_ustr_init(argc, argv, str)
+     int             argc;
+     VALUE          *argv;
+     VALUE           str;
+{
+    VALUE           orig;
+
+    if (rb_scan_args(argc, argv, "01", &orig) == 1)
+    {
+	icu_ustr_replace(str, orig);
+    }
+    return str;
+}
+
+/**
+ *  call-seq:
+ *     str.length  => integer
+ *  
+ *  Returns the length of <i>str</i>.
+ */
+VALUE
+icu_ustr_length(str)
+     VALUE           str;
+{
+    return LONG2NUM(ICU_LEN(str));
+}
+
+/**
+ *  call-seq:
+ *     str.empty?   => true or false
+ *  
+ *  Returns <code>true</code> if <i>str</i> has a length of zero.
+ *     
+ *     "hello".u.empty?   #=> false
+ *     "".u.empty?        #=> true
+ */
+
+VALUE
+icu_ustr_empty(str)
+     VALUE           str;
+{
+    return 0 == ICU_LEN(str) ? Qtrue : Qfalse;
+}
+
+VALUE
+icu_ustr_resize(str, len)
+     VALUE           str;
+     long            len;
+{
+    if (len < 0) {
+	rb_raise(rb_eArgError, "negative string size (or size too big)");
+    }
+    ustr_capa_resize(USTRING(str), len);
+    ICU_LEN(str) = len;
+    ICU_PTR(str)[len] = 0;	/* sentinel */
+    return str;
+}
+
+
+/**
+ *  call-seq:
+ *     str.replace(other_str)   => str
+ *  
+ *  Replaces the contents and taintedness of <i>str</i> with the corresponding
+ *  values in <i>other_str</i>.
+ *     
+ *     s = "hello".u       #=> "hello"
+ *     s.replace "world".u   #=> "world"
+ */
+VALUE
+icu_ustr_replace(str, str2)
+     VALUE           str,
+                     str2;
+{
+    if (str == str2)
+	return str;
+    icu_check_frozen(str);	
+    Check_Class(str2, rb_cUString);
+    ustr_splice_units(USTRING(str), 0, ICU_LEN(str), ICU_PTR(str2), ICU_LEN(str2));
+    OBJ_INFECT(str, str2);
+    return str;
+}
+
+/**
+ *  call-seq:
+ *     string.clear    ->  string
+ *
+ *  Makes string empty.
+ *
+ *     a = "abcde".u
+ *     a.clear    #=> ""
+ */
+
+VALUE
+icu_ustr_clear(str)
+     VALUE           str;
+{
+    icu_check_frozen(str);
+    icu_ustr_resize(str, 0);
+    return str;
+}
+
+int icu_collator_cmp (UCollator * collator, VALUE str1, VALUE str2) 
+{
+    int  ret = 0,  result ;
+    result = ucol_strcoll(collator, ICU_PTR(str1), ICU_LEN(str1), ICU_PTR(str2), ICU_LEN(str2));
+    switch(result){
+	  case UCOL_EQUAL:   ret = 0;break;
+	  case UCOL_GREATER: ret = 1;break;
+	  case UCOL_LESS:    ret = -1;break;
+    }
+    return ret;
+}
+
+int
+icu_ustr_cmp(str1, str2)
+     VALUE           str1,
+                     str2;
+{
+	return icu_collator_cmp(s_UCA_collator, str1, str2);
+}
+
+/**
+ *  call-seq:
+ *     str == obj   => true or false
+ *
+ *  Equality---If <i>obj</i> is not a <code>UString</code>, returns
+ *  <code>false</code>. Otherwise, returns <code>true</code> if
+ *  strings are of the same length and content
+ *  
+ */
+
+VALUE
+icu_ustr_equal(str1, str2)
+     VALUE           str1,
+                     str2;
+{
+    if (str1 == str2)
+	return Qtrue;
+    if (CLASS_OF(str2) != rb_cUString) {
+	return Qfalse;
+    }
+    if (ICU_LEN(str1) == ICU_LEN(str2) && 
+		    u_strncmp(ICU_PTR(str1), ICU_PTR(str2), ICU_LEN(str1) ) == 0) {
+	return Qtrue;
+    }
+    return Qfalse;
+}
+
+/**
+ *  call-seq:
+ *     str <=> other_str   => -1, 0, +1
+ *  
+ *  Comparison---Returns -1 if <i>other_str</i> is less than, 0 if
+ *  <i>other_str</i> is equal to, and +1 if <i>other_str</i> is greater than
+ *  <i>str</i>. 
+ *  
+ *  <code><=></code> is the basis for the methods <code><</code>,
+ *  <code><=</code>, <code>></code>, <code>>=</code>, and <code>between?</code>,
+ *  included from module <code>Comparable</code>.  The method
+ *  <code>String#==</code> does not use <code>Comparable#==</code>.
+ *
+ *  This method uses UCA rules, see also #strcoll for locale-specific string collation.
+ *     
+ *     "abcdef".u <=> "abcde".u     #=> 1
+ *     "abcdef".u <=> "abcdef".u    #=> 0
+ *     "abcdef".u <=> "abcdefg".u   #=> -1
+ *     "abcdef".u <=> "ABCDEF".u    #=> -1
+ */
+
+VALUE
+icu_ustr_cmp_m(str1, str2)
+     VALUE           str1,
+                     str2;
+{
+    long            result;
+
+    if (CLASS_OF(str2) != rb_cUString) {
+	return Qnil;
+    } else {
+	result = icu_ustr_cmp(str1, str2);
+    }
+    return LONG2NUM(result);
+}
+
+/**
+ *  call-seq:
+ *     str.casecmp(other_str)   => -1, 0, +1
+ *  
+ *  Case-insensitive version of <code>UString#<=></code> .
+ *  This method uses UCA collator with secondary strength, see #strcoll
+ *  
+ *     
+ *     "abcdef".u.casecmp("abcde".u)     #=> 1
+ *     "aBcDeF".u.casecmp("abcdef".u)    #=> 0
+ *     "abcdef".u.casecmp("abcdefg".u)   #=> -1
+ *     "abcdef".u.casecmp("ABCDEF".u)    #=> 0
+ */
+
+VALUE
+icu_ustr_casecmp(str1, str2)
+     VALUE           str1,
+                     str2;
+{
+    Check_Class(str2, rb_cUString);
+    return INT2FIX(icu_collator_cmp(s_case_UCA_collator, str1, str2)); 
+}
+
+/**
+ *  call-seq:
+ *     str + other_str   => new_str
+ *  
+ *  Concatenation---Returns a new <code>UString</code> containing
+ *  <i>other_str</i> concatenated to <i>str</i>.
+ *     
+ *     "Hello from ".u + "main".u   #=> "Hello from main"
+ */
+
+VALUE
+icu_ustr_plus(str1, str2)
+     VALUE           str1,
+                     str2;
+{
+    VALUE           str3;
+    Check_Class(str2, rb_cUString);
+
+    str3 = icu_ustr_new_capa(ICU_PTR(str1), ICU_LEN(str1), ICU_LEN(str1) + ICU_LEN(str2));
+    ustr_splice_units(USTRING(str3), ICU_LEN(str3), 0, ICU_PTR(str2), ICU_LEN(str2));
+    if (OBJ_TAINTED(str1) || OBJ_TAINTED(str2))
+	OBJ_TAINT(str3);
+    return str3;
+}
+
+/**
+ *  call-seq:
+ *     str * integer   => new_str
+ *  
+ *  Copy---Returns a new <code>UString</code> containing <i>integer</i> copies of
+ *  the receiver.
+ *     
+ *     "Ho! ".u * 3   #=> "Ho! Ho! Ho! ".u
+ */
+
+VALUE
+icu_ustr_times(str, times)
+     VALUE           str,
+                     times;
+{
+    VALUE           str2;
+    long            i,
+                    len;
+    Check_Type(times, T_FIXNUM);
+    len = NUM2LONG(times);
+    if (len < 0) {
+	rb_raise(rb_eArgError, "negative argument");
+    }
+    if (len && LONG_MAX / len < ICU_LEN(str)) {
+	rb_raise(rb_eArgError, "argument too big");
+    }
+
+    str2 = icu_ustr_new_capa(0, 0, len *= ICU_LEN(str));
+    for (i = 0; i < len; i += ICU_LEN(str)) {
+	ustr_splice_units(USTRING(str2), i, 0, ICU_PTR(str), ICU_LEN(str));
+    }
+    ICU_PTR(str2)[ICU_LEN(str2)] = 0;
+
+    OBJ_INFECT(str2, str);
+
+    return str2;
+}
+
+
+/**
+ *  call-seq:
+ *     str << other_str           => str
+ *     str.concat(other_str)      => str
+ *  
+ *  Append---Concatenates the given string object to <i>str</i>.
+ *     
+ *     a = "hello ".u
+ *     a << "world".u   #=> "hello world"
+ */
+
+VALUE
+icu_ustr_concat(str1, str2)
+     VALUE           str1,
+                     str2;
+{
+    icu_check_frozen(str1);
+    Check_Class(str2, rb_cUString);
+    if (ICU_LEN(str2) > 0) {
+	ustr_splice_units(USTRING(str1), ICU_LEN(str1), 0, ICU_PTR(str2), ICU_LEN(str2));
+	OBJ_INFECT(str1, str2);
+    }
+    return str1;
+}
+
+int
+icu_ustr_hash(str)
+     VALUE           str;
+{
+    register long   len = ICU_LEN(str) * (sizeof(UChar));
+    register char *p = (char*)ICU_PTR(str);
+    register int    key = 0;
+
+    while (len--) {
+	key += *p++;
+	key += (key << 10);
+	key ^= (key >> 6);
+    }
+    key += (key << 3);
+    key ^= (key >> 11);
+    key += (key << 15);
+    return key;
+}
+
+/**
+ * call-seq:
+ *    str.hash   => fixnum
+ *
+ * Return a hash based on the string's length and content.
+ */
+
+VALUE
+icu_ustr_hash_m(str)
+     VALUE           str;
+{
+    int             key = icu_ustr_hash(str);
+    return INT2FIX(key);
+}
+
+VALUE
+icu_ustr_dup(str)
+     VALUE           str;
+{
+    VALUE           dup = icu_ustr_new(ICU_PTR(str), ICU_LEN(str));
+    return dup;
+}
+
+/**
+ *  call-seq:
+ *     str.upcase!(locale = "")   => str or nil
+ *  
+ *  Upcases the contents of <i>str</i>, returning <code>nil</code> if no changes
+ *  were made. This method is locale-sensitive.
+ */
+
+VALUE
+icu_ustr_upcase_bang(argc, argv, str)
+     int argc;
+     VALUE * argv;
+     VALUE           str;
+
+{
+    UErrorCode      error = 0;
+    UChar          *buf = 0; 
+    long            len ;
+    VALUE           loc;
+    char *	    locale = NULL;
+    icu_check_frozen(str);
+    buf = ALLOC_N(UChar, ICU_LEN(str) + 1);
+    if (rb_scan_args(argc, argv, "01", &loc) == 1) {
+       if( loc != Qnil) {
+         Check_Type(loc, T_STRING);
+	 locale = RSTRING(loc)->ptr;
+       }
+    }
+
+    len = u_strToUpper(buf, ICU_LEN(str), ICU_PTR(str), ICU_LEN(str), locale, &error);
+    if (U_BUFFER_OVERFLOW_ERROR == error) {
+	REALLOC_N(buf, UChar, len + 1);
+	error = 0;
+	len =
+	    u_strToUpper(buf, len, ICU_PTR(str), ICU_LEN(str), locale, &error);
+    }
+    if (0 == u_strncmp(buf, ICU_PTR(str), len))
+	return Qnil;
+    free(ICU_PTR(str));
+    ICU_PTR(str) = buf;
+    ICU_LEN(str) = len;
+    return str;
+}
+
+
+/**
+ *  call-seq:
+ *     str.upcase(locale = "")   => new_str
+ *  
+ *  Returns a copy of <i>str</i> with all lowercase letters replaced with their
+ *  uppercase counterparts. The operation is locale sensitive.
+ *     
+ *     "hEllO".u.upcase   #=> "HELLO"
+ */
+
+VALUE
+icu_ustr_upcase(argc, argv, str)
+     int argc;
+     VALUE * argv;
+     VALUE           str;
+
+{
+    str = icu_ustr_dup(str);
+    icu_ustr_upcase_bang(argc, argv, str);
+    return str;
+}
+
+
+/**
+ *  call-seq:
+ *     str.downcase!(locale = "")   => str or nil
+ *  
+ *  Downcases the contents of <i>str</i>, returning <code>nil</code> if no
+ *  changes were made.
+ */
+
+VALUE
+icu_ustr_downcase_bang(argc, argv, str)
+     int argc;
+     VALUE * argv;
+     VALUE           str;
+{
+    UErrorCode      error = 0;
+    UChar          *buf;
+    long            len ;
+    VALUE           loc;
+    char *	    locale = NULL;
+    buf = ALLOC_N(UChar, ICU_LEN(str) + 1);
+    icu_check_frozen(str);
+    if (rb_scan_args(argc, argv, "01", &loc) == 1) {
+       if( loc != Qnil) {
+         Check_Type(loc, T_STRING);
+	 locale = RSTRING(loc)->ptr;
+       }
+    }
+    len = 
+	u_strToLower(buf, ICU_LEN(str), ICU_PTR(str), ICU_LEN(str), locale,
+		     &error);
+    if (U_BUFFER_OVERFLOW_ERROR == error) {
+	REALLOC_N(buf, UChar, len + 1);
+	error = 0;
+	len =
+	    u_strToLower(buf, len , ICU_PTR(str), ICU_LEN(str), locale,
+			 &error);
+    }
+    if (0 == u_strncmp(buf, ICU_PTR(str), len))
+	return Qnil;
+    free(ICU_PTR(str));
+    ICU_PTR(str) = buf;
+    ICU_LEN(str) = len;
+    return str;
+}
+
+/**
+ *  call-seq:
+ *     str.downcase(locale = "")   => new_str
+ *  
+ *  Returns a copy of <i>str</i> with all uppercase letters replaced with their
+ *  lowercase counterparts. The operation is locale sensitive.
+ *     
+ *     "hEllO".u.downcase   #=> "hello"
+ */
+
+VALUE
+icu_ustr_downcase(argc, argv, str)
+     int argc;
+     VALUE * argv;
+     VALUE           str;
+{
+    str = icu_ustr_dup(str);
+    icu_ustr_downcase_bang(argc, argv, str);
+    return str;
+}
+
+/**
+ * call-seq:
+ *     str.foldcase
+ *
+ * Case-fold the characters in a string.
+ * Case-folding is locale-independent and not context-sensitive.
+ *
+ */
+VALUE
+icu_ustr_foldcase(str)
+     VALUE           str;
+{
+    UErrorCode      error = 0;
+    UChar          *buf;
+    long            len, capa ;
+    capa = ICU_LEN(str) + 1;
+    buf = ALLOC_N(UChar, capa);
+    len = u_strFoldCase(buf, capa-1, ICU_PTR(str), ICU_LEN(str), U_FOLD_CASE_DEFAULT,   &error);
+    if (U_BUFFER_OVERFLOW_ERROR == error) {
+        capa = len + 1;
+	REALLOC_N(buf, UChar, len + 1);
+	error = 0;
+	len =  u_strFoldCase(buf, capa, ICU_PTR(str), ICU_LEN(str), U_FOLD_CASE_DEFAULT, &error);
+    }
+    return icu_ustr_new_set(buf, len, capa) ;
+}
+
+static long
+icu_ustr_index(str, sub, offset)
+     VALUE           str,
+                     sub;
+     long            offset;
+{
+    long            pos;
+    UChar          *found;
+    if (offset < 0) {
+	offset += ICU_LEN(str);
+	if (offset < 0)
+	    return -1;
+    }
+    if (ICU_LEN(str) - offset < ICU_LEN(sub))
+	return -1;
+    if (ICU_LEN(sub) == 0)
+	return offset;
+    found =
+	u_strFindFirst(ICU_PTR(str) + offset, ICU_LEN(str) - offset,
+		       ICU_PTR(sub), ICU_LEN(sub));
+    if (NULL == found)
+	return -1;
+    pos = found - (ICU_PTR(str) + offset);
+    return pos + offset;
+}
+
+/**
+ *  call-seq:
+ *     str.index(substring [, offset])   => fixnum or nil
+ *     str.index(regexp [, offset])      => fixnum or nil
+ *  
+ *  Returns the index of the first occurrence of the given <i>substring</i>,
+ *  or pattern (<i>regexp</i>) in <i>str</i>. Returns
+ *  <code>nil</code> if not found. If the second parameter is present, it
+ *  specifies the position in the string to begin the search.
+ *     
+ *     "hello".u.index('e'.u)             #=> 1
+ *     "hello".u.index('lo'.u)            #=> 3
+ *     "hello".u.index('a'.u)             #=> nil
+ *     "hello".u.index(/[aeiou]/.U, -3)   #=> 4
+ */
+
+VALUE
+icu_ustr_index_m(argc, argv, str)
+     int             argc;
+     VALUE          *argv;
+     VALUE           str;
+{
+    VALUE           sub;
+    VALUE           initpos;
+    long            pos ;
+    int             processed = 0;
+
+    if (rb_scan_args(argc, argv, "11", &sub, &initpos) == 2) {
+	pos = NUM2LONG(initpos);
+    } else {
+	pos = 0;
+    }
+    if (pos < 0) {
+	pos += ICU_LEN(str);
+    }
+
+    if( CLASS_OF(sub) ==  rb_cUString) {
+      	pos = icu_ustr_index(str, sub, pos);
+    	processed = 1;
+    }
+    if( CLASS_OF(sub) == rb_cURegexp) {
+       	pos = icu_reg_search(sub, str, pos, 0);
+    	processed = 1;
+    }
+    if(! processed ) {
+    	rb_raise(rb_eTypeError, "Wrong Type, expected UString or URegexp, got %s", rb_class2name(CLASS_OF(sub)));
+    }
+
+    if (pos == -1)
+	return Qnil;
+    return LONG2NUM(pos);
+}
+
+static long
+icu_ustr_rindex(str, sub, pos)
+     VALUE           str,
+                     sub;
+     long            pos;
+{
+    long            len = ICU_LEN(sub);
+    UChar          *found;
+
+    /*
+     * substring longer than string 
+     */
+    if (ICU_LEN(str) < len)
+	return -1;
+    if (ICU_LEN(str) - pos < len) {
+	pos = ICU_LEN(str) - len;
+    }
+    found = u_strFindLast(ICU_PTR(str), pos, ICU_PTR(sub), ICU_LEN(sub));
+    if (NULL == found)
+	return -1;
+    pos = found - (ICU_PTR(str));
+    return pos;
+}
+
+
+/**
+ *  call-seq:
+ *     str.rindex(substring [, fixnum])   => fixnum or nil
+ *     str.rindex(regexp [, fixnum])   => fixnum or nil 
+ *  
+ *  Returns the index of the last occurrence of the given <i>substring</i>,
+ *  or pattern (<i>regexp</i>) in <i>str</i>. Returns  <code>nil</code> if not 
+ *  found. If the second parameter is present, it  specifies the position in the 
+ *  string to end the search---characters beyond  this point will not be considered.
+ *     
+ *     "hello".u.rindex('e')             #=> 1
+ *     "hello".u.rindex('l')             #=> 3
+ *     "hello".u.rindex('a')             #=> nil
+ *     "hello".u.rindex(/[aeiou]/.U, -2)   #=> 1
+ */
+
+VALUE
+icu_ustr_rindex_m(argc, argv, str)
+     int             argc;
+     VALUE          *argv;
+     VALUE           str;
+{
+    VALUE           sub;
+    VALUE           position;
+    long            pos;
+
+    if (rb_scan_args(argc, argv, "11", &sub, &position) == 2) {
+	pos = NUM2LONG(position);
+	if (pos < 0) {
+	    pos += ICU_LEN(str);
+	    if (pos < 0) {
+		return Qnil;
+	    }
+	}
+	if (pos > ICU_LEN(str))
+	    pos = ICU_LEN(str);
+    } else {
+	pos = ICU_LEN(str);
+    }
+
+    switch (TYPE(sub)) {
+    case T_DATA:
+	if (CLASS_OF(sub) == rb_cUString) {
+	    pos = icu_ustr_rindex(str, sub, pos);
+	    if (pos >= 0)
+		return LONG2NUM(pos);
+	    break;
+	}
+	if (CLASS_OF(sub) == rb_cURegexp) {
+	    pos = icu_reg_search(sub, str, pos, 1);
+	    if (pos >= 0)
+		return LONG2NUM(pos);
+	    break;
+	}
+
+    default:
+	rb_raise(rb_eTypeError, "type mismatch: %s given",
+		 rb_obj_classname(sub));
+    }
+    return Qnil;
+}
+
+/**
+ *  call-seq:
+ *     str.lstrip!   => self or nil
+ *  
+ *  Removes leading whitespace from <i>str</i>, returning <code>nil</code> if no
+ *  change was made. See also <code>UString#rstrip!</code> and
+ *  <code>UString#strip!</code>, in all these methods whitespace is an 
+ *  Unicode char that has White_Space property.
+ *     
+ *     "  hello  ".u.lstrip   #=> "hello  "
+ *     "hello".u.lstrip!      #=> nil
+ */
+
+VALUE
+icu_ustr_lstrip_bang(str)
+     VALUE           str;
+{
+    UChar          *s;
+    int32_t         i,
+                    n,
+                    c;
+   icu_check_frozen(str);
+    s = ICU_PTR(str);
+    n = ICU_LEN(str);
+    if (!s || n == 0)
+	return Qnil;
+    /*
+     * remove spaces at head 
+     */
+    i = 0;
+    U16_GET(s, 0, i, n, c); /* care about surrogates */
+    while (i < n && u_isUWhiteSpace(c)) {
+        U16_NEXT(s, i, n, c); /* care surr */
+    }
+
+    if (i > 0) {
+        if(! u_isUWhiteSpace(c)) --i;
+	ICU_LEN(str) = n - i;
+	u_memmove(ICU_PTR(str), s + i, ICU_LEN(str));
+	ICU_PTR(str)[ICU_LEN(str)] = 0;
+	return str;
+    }
+    return Qnil;
+}
+
+
+/**
+ *  call-seq:
+ *     str.lstrip   => new_str
+ *  
+ *  Returns a copy of <i>str</i> with leading whitespace removed. See also
+ *  <code>UString#rstrip</code> and <code>UString#strip</code>.
+ *     
+ *     "  hello  ".u.lstrip   #=> "hello  "
+ *     "hello".u.lstrip       #=> "hello"
+ */
+
+VALUE
+icu_ustr_lstrip(str)
+     VALUE           str;
+{
+    str = icu_ustr_dup(str);
+    icu_ustr_lstrip_bang(str);
+    return str;
+}
+
+
+/**
+ *  call-seq:
+ *     str.rstrip!   => self or nil
+ *  
+ *  Removes trailing whitespace from <i>str</i>, returning <code>nil</code> if
+ *  no change was made. See also <code>UString#lstrip!</code> and
+ *  <code>UString#strip!</code>.
+ *     
+ *     "  hello  ".u.rstrip   #=> "  hello"
+ *     "hello".u.rstrip!      #=> nil
+ */
+
+VALUE
+icu_ustr_rstrip_bang(str)
+     VALUE           str;
+{
+    UChar          *s;
+    int32_t         i,
+                    n,
+                    c;
+
+   icu_check_frozen(str);
+    s = ICU_PTR(str);
+    n = ICU_LEN(str);
+
+    if (!s || n == 0)
+	return Qnil;
+    i = n - 1;
+
+    U16_GET(s, 0, n - 1, n, c); /* care surrogates */
+    i = n;
+    /*
+     * remove trailing spaces 
+     */
+    while (i > 0 && u_isUWhiteSpace(c)) {
+        U16_PREV(s, 0, i, c); /* care surrogates */
+    }
+
+    if (i < n) {
+	if(! u_isUWhiteSpace(c)) ++i;
+	ICU_LEN(str) = i;
+	ICU_PTR(str)[i] = 0;
+	return str;
+    }
+    return Qnil;
+}
+
+
+/**
+ *  call-seq:
+ *     str.rstrip   => new_str
+ *  
+ *  Returns a copy of <i>str</i> with trailing whitespace removed. See also
+ *  <code>UString#lstrip</code> and <code>UString#strip</code>.
+ *     
+ *     "  hello  ".u.rstrip   #=> "  hello"
+ *     "hello".u.rstrip       #=> "hello"
+ */
+
+VALUE
+icu_ustr_rstrip(str)
+     VALUE           str;
+{
+    str = icu_ustr_dup(str);
+    icu_ustr_rstrip_bang(str);
+    return str;
+}
+
+
+/**
+ *  call-seq:
+ *     str.strip!   => str or nil
+ *  
+ *  Removes leading and trailing whitespace from <i>str</i>. Returns
+ *  <code>nil</code> if <i>str</i> was not altered.
+ */
+
+VALUE
+icu_ustr_strip_bang(str)
+     VALUE           str;
+{
+    VALUE           l = icu_ustr_lstrip_bang(str);
+    VALUE           r = icu_ustr_rstrip_bang(str);
+
+    if (NIL_P(l) && NIL_P(r))
+	return Qnil;
+    return str;
+}
+
+
+/**
+ *  call-seq:
+ *     str.strip   => new_str
+ *  
+ *  Returns a copy of <i>str</i> with leading and trailing whitespace removed.
+ *     
+ *     "    hello    ".u.strip   #=> "hello"
+ *     "\tgoodbye\r\n".u.strip   #=> "goodbye"
+ */
+
+VALUE
+icu_ustr_strip(str)
+     VALUE           str;
+{
+    str = icu_ustr_dup(str);
+    icu_ustr_strip_bang(str);
+    return str;
+}
+
+
+
+/* ----------------------------------- */
+VALUE
+icu_ustr_normalize(str, mode)
+     VALUE           str;
+     int32_t         mode;
+{
+    UErrorCode      error = U_ZERO_ERROR;
+    long            capa = ICU_LEN(str);
+    UChar          *buf;
+    long 	needed;
+    VALUE ret;
+    if (UNORM_YES == unorm_quickCheck(ICU_PTR(str), ICU_LEN(str), mode, &error))
+	    return icu_ustr_dup(str);
+
+    buf = ALLOC_N(UChar, capa + 20);
+    do { 
+	error = 0;
+	 needed =
+	    unorm_normalize(ICU_PTR(str), ICU_LEN(str), mode, 0, buf, capa,
+			    &error);
+	if (U_SUCCESS(error)) {
+	    ret = icu_ustr_new_set(buf, needed, capa);
+	    return ret;
+	}
+	if (error == U_BUFFER_OVERFLOW_ERROR) {
+	    capa = needed + 1;
+	    REALLOC_N(buf, UChar, capa);
+	    if (!buf)
+		rb_raise(rb_eRuntimeError, "can't allocate memory");
+	} else
+	    rb_raise(rb_eArgError, u_errorName(error));
+    }
+    while (1);
+}
+
+/**
+ * UNORM_NFKC Compatibility decomposition followed by canonical
+ * composition. 
+ */
+VALUE
+icu_ustr_normalize_KC(str)
+     VALUE           str;
+{
+    return icu_ustr_normalize(str, UNORM_NFKC);
+}
+
+/**
+ * UNORM_NFKD Compatibility decomposition. 
+ */
+VALUE
+icu_ustr_normalize_KD(str)
+     VALUE           str;
+{
+    return icu_ustr_normalize(str, UNORM_NFKD);
+}
+
+/**
+ * UNORM_NFD Canonical decomposition. 
+ */
+VALUE
+icu_ustr_normalize_D(str)
+     VALUE           str;
+{
+    return icu_ustr_normalize(str, UNORM_NFD);
+}
+
+/**
+ * UNORM_FCD 
+ */
+VALUE
+icu_ustr_normalize_FCD(VALUE str)
+{
+    return icu_ustr_normalize(str, UNORM_FCD);
+}
+
+/**
+ * UNORM_NFC Canonical decomposition followed by canonical composition. 
+ */
+VALUE
+icu_ustr_normalize_C(str)
+     VALUE           str;
+{
+    return icu_ustr_normalize(str, UNORM_NFC);
+}
+
+/* UBRK_CHARACTER, UBRK_WORD, UBRK_LINE, UBRK_SENTENCE */
+VALUE
+icu_ustr_each_mode(argc, argv, str, mode)
+     int             argc;
+     VALUE          *argv;
+     VALUE           str;
+     int32_t         mode;
+{
+    UErrorCode      error = 0;
+    UBreakIterator *boundary; 
+    int32_t         end, start;
+    VALUE           loc ;
+    char           *locale = "";
+    if( rb_scan_args(argc, argv, "01", &loc) == 1) {
+        Check_Type(loc, T_STRING);
+	locale = RSTRING(loc)->ptr;
+    }
+    boundary =
+	ubrk_open(mode, locale, ICU_PTR(str), ICU_LEN(str),
+		  &error);
+    if (U_FAILURE(error))
+	rb_raise(rb_eArgError, "Error %s", u_errorName(error));
+     start = ubrk_first(boundary);
+    USTRING(str)->busy = 1;
+    for (end = ubrk_next(boundary); end != UBRK_DONE;
+	 start = end, end = ubrk_next(boundary)) {
+	rb_yield(icu_ustr_new(ICU_PTR(str) + start, end - start));
+    }
+    USTRING(str)->busy = 0;
+    ubrk_close(boundary);
+    return str;
+}
+
+/**
+ *  call-seq:
+ *     str.each_word(locale = "")       {|substr| block }        => str
+ *     
+ * Word boundary analysis is used by search and replace functions, as well as within text editing 
+ * applications that allow the user to select words with a double click. Word selection provides 
+ * correct interpretation of punctuation marks within and following words. Characters that are not 
+ * part of a word, such as symbols or punctuation marks, have word-breaks on both sides.
+ *
+ */
+VALUE
+icu_ustr_each_word(argc, argv, str)
+     int             argc;
+     VALUE          *argv;
+     VALUE           str;
+  
+{
+    return icu_ustr_each_mode(argc, argv, str,  UBRK_WORD);
+}
+
+/**
+ *  call-seq:
+ *     str.each_char(locale = "")       {|substr| block }        => str
+ *
+ * Character boundary analysis allows users to interact with characters as they expect to, 
+ * for example, when moving the cursor through a text string. Character boundary analysis provides 
+ * correct navigation of through character strings, regardless of how the character is stored. 
+ * For example, an accented character might be stored as a base character and a diacritical mark. 
+ * What users consider to be a character can differ between languages.
+ *
+ */
+VALUE
+icu_ustr_each_char(argc, argv, str)
+     int             argc;
+     VALUE          *argv;
+     VALUE           str;
+
+{
+    return icu_ustr_each_mode(argc, argv, str, UBRK_CHARACTER);
+}
+
+/**
+ *  call-seq:
+ *     str.each_line_break(locale = "") {|substr| block }        => str
+ *
+ * Line boundary analysis determines where a text string can be broken when line-wrapping. 
+ * The mechanism correctly handles punctuation and hyphenated words.
+ *
+ */
+VALUE
+icu_ustr_each_line(argc, argv, str)
+     int             argc;
+     VALUE          *argv;
+     VALUE           str;
+
+{
+    return icu_ustr_each_mode(argc, argv, str,  UBRK_LINE);
+}
+
+/**
+ *  call-seq:
+ *     str.each_sentence(locale = "")   {|substr| block }        => str
+ *
+ * Sentence boundary analysis allows selection with correct interpretation of periods 
+ * within numbers and abbreviations, and trailing punctuation marks such as quotation marks and parentheses.
+ *
+ */
+VALUE
+icu_ustr_each_sentence(argc, argv, str)
+     int             argc;
+     VALUE          *argv;
+     VALUE           str;
+{
+    return icu_ustr_each_mode(argc, argv, str,  UBRK_SENTENCE);
+}
+
+/**
+ * call-seq:
+ *    str.to_u(encoding = 'utf8') => UString
+ *
+ * Returns self.
+ */
+VALUE
+icu_ustr_to_ustr(argc, argv, str)
+     int             argc;
+     VALUE          *argv;
+     VALUE           str;
+{
+    return str;
+}
+
+/**
+ * call-seq:
+ *    str.to_s(encoding = 'utf8') => String
+ *
+ * Converts to Ruby String (byte-oriented) value in  given encoding.
+ * When no encoding is given, assumes UTF-8.
+ */
+VALUE
+icu_ustr_to_rstr(argc, argv, str)
+     int             argc;
+     VALUE          *argv,
+                     str;
+{
+    VALUE           enc;
+    char           *encoding = 0;	/* default */
+    UErrorCode      error = 0;
+    UConverter     *conv ;
+    int enclen, needed = 0;
+    char * buf;
+    VALUE s;
+    if (rb_scan_args(argc, argv, "01", &enc) == 1) {
+	Check_Type(enc, T_STRING);
+	encoding = RSTRING(enc)->ptr;
+    }
+    
+    enclen = ICU_LEN(str) + 1;
+    buf = ALLOC_N(char, enclen);
+   
+    if( !encoding || !strncmp(encoding, "utf8", 4)){
+	  u_strToUTF8( buf, enclen, &needed, ICU_PTR(str), ICU_LEN(str), &error);
+          if (U_BUFFER_OVERFLOW_ERROR == error) {
+        	REALLOC_N(buf, char, needed + 1);
+        	error = 0;
+        	u_strToUTF8( buf, needed, &needed, ICU_PTR(str), ICU_LEN(str), &error);
+         }
+	 if( U_FAILURE(error) ){
+	       free(buf);
+	       rb_raise(rb_eArgError, u_errorName(error));
+	 }
+         s = rb_str_new(buf, needed);
+
+    } else {
+            conv = ucnv_open(encoding, &error);
+            if (U_FAILURE(error)) {
+        	ucnv_close(conv);
+		free(buf);
+        	rb_raise(rb_eArgError, u_errorName(error));
+            }
+            enclen =
+        	ucnv_fromUChars(conv, buf, enclen, ICU_PTR(str), ICU_LEN(str),
+        			&error);
+            if (U_BUFFER_OVERFLOW_ERROR == error) {
+        	REALLOC_N(buf, char, enclen + 1);
+        	error = 0;
+        	ucnv_fromUChars(conv, buf, enclen, ICU_PTR(str), ICU_LEN(str),
+        			&error);
+            }
+	    if( U_FAILURE(error) ){
+	       free(buf);
+	       rb_raise(rb_eArgError, u_errorName(error));
+	    }
+            s = rb_str_new(buf, enclen);
+	    ucnv_close(conv);
+    }
+    free(buf);
+    return s;
+}
+
+/* -------------- */
+extern VALUE    icu_format(UChar * pattern, int32_t len, VALUE args,
+			   int32_t arg_len, char *locale);
+/**
+ * call-seq:
+ *     str.format(locale, [*args]) 
+ *
+ * Powerful locale-sensitive message formatting. see [./docs/FORMATTING]
+ * 
+ * Valid argument types are: +Fixnum+, +UString+, +Float+, +Time+ .
+ * 
+ * */
+VALUE
+icu_ustr_format(str, args)
+     VALUE           str,
+                     args;
+{
+    VALUE           loc;
+    Check_Type(args, T_ARRAY);
+    loc = rb_ary_shift(args);
+    Check_Type(loc, T_STRING);
+    return icu_format(ICU_PTR(str), ICU_LEN(str), args, RARRAY(args)->len,
+		      RSTRING(loc)->ptr);
+}
+
+/* ------ UString regexp related functions ---- */
+
+/**
+ *  call-seq:
+ *     str =~ uregexp         => UMatch or nil
+ *     str =~ other_str       => integer or nil
+ *  
+ *  Match---If <code>URegexp</code> is given, use it as a pattern to 
+ *  match against <i>uregexp</i> and return UMatch or +nil+. 
+ *
+ *  If <code>UString</code> is given, returns index of it  
+ *  (similar to <code>UString#index</code>).
+ *
+ *  Otherwise returns +nil+
+ *     
+ *     "cat o' 9 tails".u =~ '\d'    #=> nil
+ *     "cat o' 9 tails".u =~ /\d/.U  #=> #<UMatch:0xf6fb7d5c @cg=[<U000039>]>
+ *     "cat o' 9 tails".u =~ 9       #=> false
+ *     "cat o' 9 tails".u =~ '9'.u   #=> 7
+ */
+
+VALUE
+icu_ustr_match(x, y)
+     VALUE           x,
+                     y;
+{
+    long pos ; 
+    if (TYPE(y) == T_REGEXP){
+      rb_raise(rb_eTypeError, "Wrong type: can't match against Regexp. Use URegexp instead");
+    }
+    if (CLASS_OF(y) == rb_cURegexp) {
+	return icu_reg_match(y, x);
+    } else if (CLASS_OF(y) == rb_cUString) {
+	pos =  icu_ustr_index(x, y, 0);
+	if (pos == -1) return Qnil;
+	else return LONG2NUM(pos);
+    } else {
+	return Qnil;
+    }
+}
+
+VALUE
+get_pat(pat, quote)
+     VALUE           pat;
+     int             quote;
+{
+    if (CLASS_OF(pat) == rb_cURegexp)
+	return pat;
+
+    if (CLASS_OF(pat) == rb_cUString)
+	return icu_reg_comp(pat);
+    Check_Class(pat, rb_cURegexp);
+    return Qnil;
+}
+
+
+/**
+ *  call-seq:
+ *     str.match(pattern)   => matchdata or nil
+ *  
+ *  Converts <i>pattern</i> to a <code>URegexp</code> (if it isn't already one),
+ *  then invokes its <code>match</code> method on <i>str</i>.
+ *     
+ *     'hello'.u.match('(.)\1'.u)      #=> #<UMatch:0x401b3d30>
+ *     'hello'.u.match('(.)\1'.u)[0]   #=> "ll"
+ *     'hello'.u.match(/(.)\1/.U)[0]   #=> "ll"
+ *     'hello'.u.match('xx')         #=> nil
+ */
+
+VALUE
+icu_ustr_match_m(str, re)
+     VALUE           str,
+                     re;
+{
+    return rb_funcall(get_pat(re, 0), rb_intern("match"), 1, str);
+}
+
+VALUE
+ustr_scan_once(str, pat, start)
+     VALUE           str,
+                     pat;
+     long           *start;
+{
+    VALUE           result;
+    long            i;
+    long            beg,
+                    end, num_regs;
+
+    if (icu_reg_search(pat, str, *start, 0) >= 0) {
+	icu_reg_range(pat, 0, &beg, &end);
+	if (beg == end) {
+	    *start = end + 1;
+	} else {
+	    *start = end;
+	}
+	num_regs = icu_group_count(pat);
+	if (num_regs <= 1) {
+	    return icu_reg_nth_match(pat, 0);
+	}
+	result = rb_ary_new2(num_regs);
+	for (i = 1; i <= num_regs; i++) {
+	    rb_ary_store(result, i - 1, icu_reg_nth_match(pat, i));
+	}
+
+	return result;
+    }
+    return Qnil;
+}
+
+
+/**
+ *  call-seq:
+ *     str.scan(pattern)                         => array
+ *     str.scan(pattern) {|match, ...| block }   => str
+ *  
+ *  Both forms iterate through <i>str</i>, matching the pattern (which may be a
+ *  <code>URegexp</code> or a <code>UString</code>). For each match, a result is
+ *  generated and either added to the result array or passed to the block. If
+ *  the pattern contains no groups, each individual result consists of the
+ *  matched string.  If the pattern contains groups, each
+ *  individual result is itself an array containing one entry per group.
+ *     
+ *     a = "cruel world".u
+ *     a.scan(/\w+/.U)        #=> ["cruel", "world"]
+ *     a.scan(/.../.U)        #=> ["cru", "el ", "wor"]
+ *     a.scan(/(...)/.U)      #=> [["cru"], ["el "], ["wor"]]
+ *     a.scan(/(..)(..)/.U)   #=> [["cr", "ue"], ["l ", "wo"]]
+ *     
+ *  And the block form:
+ *     
+ *     a.scan(/\w+/.U) {|w| print "<<#{w}>> " }
+ *     print "\n"
+ *     a.scan(/(.)(.)/.U) {|a,b| print b, a }
+ *     print "\n"
+ *     
+ *  <em>produces:</em>
+ *     
+ *     <<cruel>> <<world>>
+ *     rceu lowlr
+ */
+
+VALUE
+icu_ustr_scan(str, pat)
+     VALUE           str,
+                     pat;
+{
+    VALUE           result;
+    long            start = 0;
+
+    pat = get_pat(pat, 1);
+    if (!rb_block_given_p()) {
+	VALUE           ary = rb_ary_new();
+
+	while (!NIL_P(result = ustr_scan_once(str, pat, &start))) {
+	    rb_ary_push(ary, result);
+	}
+	return ary;
+    }
+    USTRING(str)->busy = 1;
+    while (!NIL_P(result = ustr_scan_once(str, pat, &start))) {
+	rb_yield(result);
+    }
+    USTRING(str)->busy = 0;
+    return str;
+}
+/**
+ * call-seq:
+ *     str.char_span(start[, len, [locale]])
+ *
+ * Returns substring starting at <code>start</code>-th char, with <code>len</code> chars length.
+ * Here "char" means "grapheme cluster", so start index and len are measured in terms of "graphemes"
+ * locale parameter is optional.
+ * Negative len can be supplied to receive to end of string.
+ *
+ * String is transformed to NFC before extract.
+ */
+VALUE
+icu_ustr_char_span(int argc, VALUE * argv, VALUE str)
+{
+    UErrorCode      error = 0;
+    int32_t         end, start, char_start = 0, char_len = -1, total_chars = 0;
+    int32_t         init_pos = -1, end_pos = -1, n;
+    char 	    *loc = NULL;
+    VALUE 	    cs, clen, locl, out;
+    UBreakIterator *boundary;
+
+    n = rb_scan_args(argc, argv, "12", &cs, &clen, &locl);
+    Check_Type(cs, T_FIXNUM);
+    char_start = FIX2INT(cs);
+    if(char_start < 0) rb_raise(rb_eArgError, "Negative offset aren't allowed!");
+    
+    if( n > 1) {
+    	Check_Type(clen, T_FIXNUM);
+	char_len = FIX2INT(clen);
+	if(char_len <= 0) char_len = -1;
+    }
+    if( n > 2) {
+    	Check_Type(locl, T_STRING);
+	loc = RSTRING(locl)->ptr;
+    }
+    if(UNORM_YES != unorm_quickCheck(ICU_PTR(str), ICU_LEN(str), UNORM_NFC, &error) ) 
+	    str = icu_ustr_normalize_C(str);
+
+    boundary  =
+	ubrk_open(UBRK_CHARACTER, loc, ICU_PTR(str), ICU_LEN(str), &error);
+    if (U_FAILURE(error))
+	rb_raise(rb_eArgError, "Error %s", u_errorName(error));
+    
+    start = ubrk_first(boundary);
+    for (end = ubrk_next(boundary); end != UBRK_DONE;
+	 start = end, end = ubrk_next(boundary)) {
+	if( total_chars == char_start ) init_pos = start;
+	total_chars ++;
+	if( char_len>0 && total_chars == char_start+char_len) end_pos = end;
+    }
+    ubrk_close(boundary);
+    if( init_pos == -1) rb_raise(rb_eArgError, "Char index %d out of bounds %d", char_start, total_chars);
+    if( end_pos  == -1) end_pos = ICU_LEN(str); /* reached end of string */
+    out = icu_ustr_new(ICU_PTR(str)+init_pos, end_pos - init_pos);
+    return out;
+}
+
+VALUE
+icu_ustr_chars(str, loc)
+     VALUE           str;
+     char           *loc;
+{
+    UErrorCode      error = 0;
+    int32_t         end, start;
+    VALUE out;
+    UBreakIterator *boundary;
+    if(UNORM_YES != unorm_quickCheck(ICU_PTR(str), ICU_LEN(str), UNORM_NFC, &error) ) 
+	    str = icu_ustr_normalize_C(str);
+
+    boundary  =
+	ubrk_open(UBRK_CHARACTER, loc, ICU_PTR(str), ICU_LEN(str), &error);
+    if (U_FAILURE(error))
+	rb_raise(rb_eArgError, "Error %s", u_errorName(error));
+    
+    out = rb_ary_new();
+    start = ubrk_first(boundary);
+    for (end = ubrk_next(boundary); end != UBRK_DONE;
+	 start = end, end = ubrk_next(boundary)) {
+	rb_ary_push(out, icu_ustr_new(ICU_PTR(str) + start, end - start));
+    }
+    ubrk_close(boundary);
+    return out;
+}
+
+/**
+ * call-seq:
+ *     str.chars(locale = "")  => array of character
+ *
+ * Returns array of character graphemes, locale dependent.
+ * String is transformed to NFC before split. 
+ * */
+VALUE
+icu_ustr_chars_m(argc, argv, str)
+     int             argc;
+     VALUE          *argv;
+     VALUE           str;
+{
+    VALUE           locale;
+    if (rb_scan_args(argc, argv, "01", &locale) == 1) {
+	Check_Type(locale, T_STRING);
+	return icu_ustr_chars(str, RSTRING(locale)->ptr);
+    } else {
+	return icu_ustr_chars(str, "");
+    }
+}
+
+/**
+ *  call-seq:
+ *     str.split(pattern, [limit])   => anArray
+ *  
+ *  Divides <i>str</i> into substrings based on a delimiter, returning an array
+ *  of these substrings. <i>str</i> is divided where the
+ *  pattern matches.  
+ *
+ *  NOTE: split(//) or split("") is not supported. 
+ *  To get array of chars use #chars or #codepoints methods
+ *  
+ *  If the <i>limit</i> parameter is omitted, trailing null fields are
+ *  suppressed. If <i>limit</i> is a positive number, at most that number of
+ *  fields will be returned (if <i>limit</i> is <code>1</code>, the entire
+ *  string is returned as the only entry in an array). If negative, there is no
+ *  limit to the number of fields returned, and trailing null fields are not
+ *  suppressed.
+ *     
+ */
+
+VALUE
+icu_ustr_split_m(argc, argv, str)
+     int             argc;
+     VALUE          *argv;
+     VALUE           str;
+{
+    VALUE           spat;
+    VALUE           limit;
+    int             lim = 0;
+    VALUE           result;
+
+    if (rb_scan_args(argc, argv, "11", &spat, &limit) == 2) {
+	lim = NUM2INT(limit);
+	if (lim <= 0)
+	    limit = Qnil;
+    }
+    if (CLASS_OF(spat) == rb_cURegexp) {
+	result = icu_reg_split(spat, str, limit);
+    } else {
+	if (CLASS_OF(spat) == rb_cUString) {
+	    result = icu_reg_split(icu_reg_comp(spat), str, limit);
+	} else {
+	    rb_raise(rb_eArgError, "Expected UString or URegexp, got %s",
+		     rb_class2name(CLASS_OF(spat)));
+	}
+    }
+    if (NIL_P(limit) && lim == 0) {
+	while (RARRAY(result)->len > 0 &&
+	       ICU_LEN( (RARRAY(result)->ptr[RARRAY(result)->len - 1])) == 0)
+	    rb_ary_pop(result);
+    }
+
+    return result;
+}
+
+/**
+ * call-seq:
+ *     str.inspect => String
+ *
+ * Shows codepoints in form of \uxxxx. For debug purposes.
+ */
+VALUE
+icu_ustr_inspect(str)
+     VALUE           str;
+{
+    VALUE           buf = rb_str_new2("");
+    char            temp[] = "\\u0010FFFF  ";
+    int32_t         i,
+                    n,
+		    k,
+                    c;
+    UChar          *s = ICU_PTR(str);
+    n = ICU_LEN(str);
+    i = 0;
+    while (i < n) {
+	U16_NEXT(s, i, n, c); /* care surrogate */
+	if(c >= 0x10000) 
+		k = sprintf(temp, "\\u%08X", c);
+	else
+		k = sprintf(temp, "\\u%04X", c);
+	rb_str_cat(buf, temp, k);
+    }
+    return buf;
+}
+
+/**
+ * call-seq:
+ *     str.codepoints => array of fixnums
+ *
+ * Returns array of codepoints as fixnums.
+ */
+VALUE
+icu_ustr_points(str)
+     VALUE           str;
+{
+    VALUE           buf = rb_ary_new();
+    int32_t         i,
+                    n,
+                    c;
+    UChar          *s = ICU_PTR(str);
+    n = ICU_LEN(str);
+    i = 0;
+    while (i < n) {
+	U16_NEXT(s, i, n, c); /* care surrogates */
+	rb_ary_push(buf, LONG2NUM(c));
+    }
+    return buf;
+}
+
+
+/**
+ * call-seq:
+ *     str.inspect_names => String
+ *
+ * Dumps names of codepoints in this UString (debug).
+ */
+VALUE
+icu_ustr_inspect_names(str)
+     VALUE           str;
+{
+    VALUE           buf = rb_str_new2("");
+    char            temp[301];
+    UErrorCode      error;
+    int32_t         i,
+                    n,
+                    c,
+                    l;
+    UChar          *s = ICU_PTR(str);
+    n = ICU_LEN(str);
+    i = 0;
+    while (i < n) {
+	U16_NEXT(s, i, n, c) sprintf(temp, "<U%06X>", c); /* care surrogates */
+	rb_str_cat(buf, temp, 9);
+	error = 0;
+	l = u_charName(c, U_UNICODE_CHAR_NAME, temp, 300, &error);
+	rb_str_cat(buf, temp, l);
+	rb_str_cat(buf, "\n", 1);
+    }
+    return buf;
+}
+
+VALUE
+icu_ustr_subpat(str, re, nth)
+     VALUE           str,
+                     re;
+     int             nth;
+{
+    if (icu_reg_search(re, str, 0, 0) >= 0) {
+	return icu_reg_nth_match(re, nth);
+    }
+    return Qnil;
+}
+
+/* beg len are code unit indexes*/
+VALUE
+icu_ustr_substr(str, beg, len)
+     VALUE           str;
+     long            beg,
+                     len;
+{
+    int32_t         str_size;
+	str_size =  ICU_LEN(str);
+	if (len < 0) return Qnil;
+	
+	if (beg > str_size) return Qnil;
+	if (beg < 0) {
+		beg += str_size;
+		if (beg < 0) return Qnil;
+	}
+	if (beg + len > str_size) {
+		len = str_size - beg;
+	}
+	if (len < 0) {
+		len = 0;
+	}
+	if( len == 0) return icu_ustr_new(0, 0);
+	/* adjust to codepoint boundaries */
+    	U16_SET_CP_START(ICU_PTR(str), 0, beg);
+	U16_SET_CP_LIMIT(ICU_PTR(str), 0, len, ICU_LEN(str));
+    	return icu_ustr_new(ICU_PTR(str) + beg,  len);
+}
+
+VALUE
+icu_ustr_aref(str, indx)
+     VALUE           str;
+     VALUE           indx;
+{
+    long            idx;
+    int32_t         cp_len = ICU_LEN(str);
+
+    switch (TYPE(indx)) {
+    case T_FIXNUM:
+	idx = FIX2LONG(indx);
+
+      num_index:
+	if (idx < 0) {
+	    idx = cp_len + idx;
+	}
+	if (idx < 0 || cp_len <= idx) {
+	    return Qnil;
+	}
+	return icu_ustr_substr(str, idx, 1);
+
+    case T_DATA:
+	if (CLASS_OF(indx) == rb_cURegexp)
+	    return icu_ustr_subpat(str, indx, 0);
+	if (CLASS_OF(indx) == rb_cUString) {
+	    if (icu_ustr_index(str, indx, 0) != -1)
+		return icu_ustr_dup(indx);
+	    return Qnil;
+	}
+
+    default:
+	/*
+	 * check if indx is Range 
+	 */
+	{
+	    long            beg,
+	                    len;
+	    switch (rb_range_beg_len(indx, &beg, &len, cp_len, 0)) {
+	    case Qfalse:
+		break;
+	    case Qnil:
+		return Qnil;
+	    default:
+		return icu_ustr_substr(str, beg, len);
+	    }
+	}
+	idx = NUM2LONG(indx);
+	goto num_index;
+    }
+    return Qnil;		/* not reached */
+}
+
+/**
+ *  call-seq:
+ *     str[fixnum]                 => new_str or nil
+ *     str[fixnum, fixnum]         => new_str or nil
+ *     str[range]                  => new_str or nil
+ *     str[regexp]                 => new_str or nil
+ *     str[regexp, fixnum]         => new_str or nil
+ *     str[other_str]              => new_str or nil
+ *     str.slice(fixnum)           => new_str or nil
+ *     str.slice(fixnum, fixnum)   => new_str or nil
+ *     str.slice(range)            => new_str or nil
+ *     str.slice(regexp)           => new_str or nil
+ *     str.slice(regexp, fixnum)   => new_str or nil
+ *     str.slice(other_str)        => new_str or nil
+ *  
+ *  Element Reference---If passed a single <code>Fixnum</code>, returns 
+ *  substring with the character at that position. If passed two <code>Fixnum</code>
+ *  objects, returns a substring starting at the offset given by the first, and
+ *  a length given by the second. If given a range, a substring containing
+ *  characters at offsets given by the range is returned. In all three cases, if
+ *  an offset is negative, it is counted from the end of <i>str</i>. Returns
+ *  <code>nil</code> if the initial offset falls outside the string, the length
+ *  is negative, or the beginning of the range is greater than the end.
+ *     
+ *  If a <code>URegexp</code> is supplied, the matching portion of <i>str</i> is
+ *  returned. If a numeric parameter follows the regular expression, that
+ *  component of the <code>UMatch</code> is returned instead. If a
+ *  <code>UString</code> is given, that string is returned if it occurs in
+ *  <i>str</i>. In both cases, <code>nil</code> is returned if there is no
+ *  match.
+ *     
+ *     a = "hello there".u
+ *     a[1]                   #=> 'e'
+ *     a[1,3]                 #=> "ell"
+ *     a[1..3]                #=> "ell"
+ *     a[-3,2]                #=> "er"
+ *     a[-4..-2]              #=> "her"
+ *     a[12..-1]              #=> nil
+ *     a[-2..-4]              #=> ""
+ *     a[/[aeiou](.)\1/.U]      #=> "ell"
+ *     a[/[aeiou](.)\1/.U, 0]   #=> "ell"
+ *     a[/[aeiou](.)\1/.U, 1]   #=> "l"
+ *     a[/[aeiou](.)\1/.U, 2]   #=> nil
+ *     a["lo".u]                #=> "lo"
+ *     a["bye".u]               #=> nil
+ */
+
+VALUE
+icu_ustr_aref_m(argc, argv, str)
+     int             argc;
+     VALUE          *argv;
+     VALUE           str;
+{
+    if (argc == 2) {
+	if (CLASS_OF(argv[0]) == rb_cURegexp) {
+	    return icu_ustr_subpat(str, argv[0], NUM2INT(argv[1]));
+	}
+	return icu_ustr_substr(str, NUM2LONG(argv[0]), NUM2LONG(argv[1]));
+    }
+    if (argc != 1) {
+	rb_raise(rb_eArgError, "wrong number of arguments (%d for 1)",
+		 argc);
+    }
+    return icu_ustr_aref(str, argv[0]);
+}
+
+/**
+ *  call-seq:
+ *     str.sub!(pattern, replacement)          => str or nil
+ *     str.sub!(pattern) {|match| block }      => str or nil
+ *  
+ *  Performs the substitutions of <code>UString#sub</code> in place,
+ *  returning <i>str</i>, or <code>nil</code> if no substitutions were
+ *  performed.
+ */
+
+VALUE
+icu_ustr_sub_bang(argc, argv, str)
+     int             argc;
+     VALUE          *argv;
+     VALUE           str;
+{
+     return	ustr_gsub(argc, argv, str, 1, 1 );
+}
+
+
+/**
+ *  call-seq:
+ *     str.sub(pattern, replacement)         => new_str
+ *     str.sub(pattern) {|match| block }     => new_str
+ *  
+ *  Returns a copy of <i>str</i> with the <em>first</em> occurrence of
+ *  <i>pattern</i> replaced with either <i>replacement</i> or the value of the
+ *  block. The <i>pattern</i> will typically be a <code>URegexp</code>; if it is
+ *  a <code>UString</code> then no regular expression metacharacters will be
+ *  interpreted (that is <code>/\d/.U</code> will match a digit, but
+ *  <code>'\d'</code> will match a backslash followed by a 'd').
+ *     
+ *  The sequences <code>$1</code>,  <code>$2</code>, etc., may be used.
+ *     
+ *  In the block form, the current UMatch object is passed in as a parameter.
+ *  The value returned by the block will be substituted for the match on each call.
+ *     
+ *     "hello".u.sub(/[aeiou]/.U, '*'.u)               #=> "h*llo"
+ *     "hello".u.sub(/([aeiou])/.U, '<$1>'.u)          #=> "h<e>llo"
+ */
+
+VALUE
+icu_ustr_sub(argc, argv, str)
+     int             argc;
+     VALUE          *argv;
+     VALUE           str;
+{
+    str = icu_ustr_dup(str);
+    icu_ustr_sub_bang(argc, argv, str);
+    return str;
+}
+
+/**
+ * replace in string from +beg+ length +len+ (in code units)
+ */
+static void
+icu_ustr_splice(str, beg, len, val)
+     VALUE           str;
+     long            beg,
+                     len;
+     VALUE           val;
+{
+    long char_len;    
+    Check_Class(val, rb_cUString);
+    if (val == str) {
+       val = icu_ustr_dup(str);
+    }
+    if (len < 0)
+    rb_raise(rb_eIndexError, "negative length %ld", len);
+    char_len = ICU_LEN(str);
+
+    if (char_len < beg) {
+      out_of_range:
+	rb_raise(rb_eIndexError, "index %ld out of string", beg);
+    }
+    if (beg < 0) {
+	if (-beg > char_len) {
+	    goto out_of_range;
+	}
+	beg += char_len;
+    }
+    if (char_len < beg + len) {
+	len = char_len - beg;
+    }
+    	/* adjust to codepoint boundaries */
+    	U16_SET_CP_START(ICU_PTR(str), 0, beg);
+	U16_SET_CP_LIMIT(ICU_PTR(str), 0, len, ICU_LEN(str));
+
+    ustr_splice_units(USTRING(str), beg, len, ICU_PTR(val), ICU_LEN(val));
+    OBJ_INFECT(str, val);
+}
+
+
+/**
+ *  call-seq:
+ *     str.insert(index, other_str)   => str
+ *  
+ *  Inserts <i>other_str</i> before the character at the given
+ *  <i>index</i>, modifying <i>str</i>. Negative indices count from the
+ *  end of the string, and insert <em>after</em> the given character.
+ *  The intent is insert <i>other_str</i> so that it starts at the given
+ *  <i>index</i>.
+ *     
+ *     "abcd".u.insert(0, 'X'.u)    #=> "Xabcd"
+ *     "abcd".u.insert(3, 'X'.u)    #=> "abcXd"
+ *     "abcd".u.insert(4, 'X'.u)    #=> "abcdX"
+ *     "abcd".u.insert(-3, 'X'.u)   #=> "abXcd"
+ *     "abcd".u.insert(-1, 'X'.u)   #=> "abcdX"
+ */
+
+VALUE
+icu_ustr_insert(str, idx, str2)
+     VALUE           str,
+                     idx,
+                     str2;
+{
+    long            pos = NUM2LONG(idx);
+    icu_check_frozen(str);
+
+    if (pos == -1) {
+	pos = NUM2LONG(icu_ustr_length(str));
+    } else if (pos < 0) {
+	pos++;
+    }
+
+    icu_ustr_splice(str, pos, 0, str2);
+    return str;
+}
+
+/**
+ *  call-seq:
+ *     str.include? other_str   => true or false
+ *  
+ *  Returns <code>true</code> if <i>str</i> contains the given string 
+ *     
+ *     "hello".u.include? "lo".u   #=> true
+ *     "hello".u.include? "ol".u   #=> false
+ */
+
+VALUE
+icu_ustr_include(str, arg)
+     VALUE           str,
+                     arg;
+{
+    long            i;
+    i = icu_ustr_index(str, arg, 0);
+    if (i == -1)
+	return Qfalse;
+    return Qtrue;
+}
+
+static void
+icu_ustr_subpat_set(str, re, nth, val)
+     VALUE           str,
+                     re;
+     int             nth;
+     VALUE           val;
+{
+    long            start,
+                    end,
+                    len;
+    VALUE matched;
+
+    if (icu_reg_search(re, str, 0, 0) < 0) {
+	rb_raise(rb_eIndexError, "regexp not matched");
+    }
+    matched = icu_reg_range(re, nth, &start, &end);
+    if (NIL_P(matched)) {
+	rb_raise(rb_eIndexError, "regexp group %d not matched", nth);
+    }
+    len = end - start;
+	/* adjust to codepoint boundaries */
+    	U16_SET_CP_START(ICU_PTR(str), 0, start);
+	U16_SET_CP_LIMIT(ICU_PTR(str), 0, len, ICU_LEN(str));
+
+    ustr_splice_units(USTRING(str), start, len, ICU_PTR(val), ICU_LEN(val));
+}
+
+VALUE
+icu_ustr_aset(str, indx, val)
+     VALUE           str;
+     VALUE           indx,
+                     val;
+{
+    long            idx,
+                    beg;
+    long            char_len = ICU_LEN(str);
+
+    switch (TYPE(indx)) {
+    case T_FIXNUM:
+      num_index:
+	idx = FIX2LONG(indx);
+	if (char_len <= idx) {
+	  out_of_range:
+	    rb_raise(rb_eIndexError, "index %ld out of string", idx);
+	}
+	if (idx < 0) {
+	    if (-idx > char_len)
+		goto out_of_range;
+	    idx += char_len;
+	}
+	icu_ustr_splice(str, idx, 1, val);
+	return val;
+
+    case T_DATA:
+	if (CLASS_OF(indx) == rb_cURegexp) {
+	    icu_ustr_subpat_set(str, indx, 0, val);
+	    return val;
+	}
+	if (CLASS_OF(indx) == rb_cUString) {
+	    beg = icu_ustr_index(str, indx, 0);
+	    if (beg < 0) {
+		rb_raise(rb_eIndexError, "string not matched");
+	    }
+	    ustr_splice_units(USTRING(str), beg, ICU_LEN(indx), ICU_PTR(val), ICU_LEN(val));
+	    return val;
+	}
+    default:
+	/*
+	 * check if indx is Range 
+	 */
+	{
+	    long            beg,
+	                    len;
+	    if (rb_range_beg_len(indx, &beg, &len, char_len, 2)) {
+		icu_ustr_splice(str, beg, len, val);
+		return val;
+	    }
+	}
+	idx = NUM2LONG(indx);
+	goto num_index;
+    }
+}
+
+
+/**
+ *  call-seq:
+ *     str[fixnum] = new_str
+ *     str[fixnum, fixnum] = new_str
+ *     str[range] = new_str
+ *     str[regexp] = new_str
+ *     str[regexp, fixnum] = new_str
+ *     str[other_str] = new_str
+ *  
+ *  Element Assignment---Replaces some or all of the content of <i>str</i>. The
+ *  portion of the string affected is determined using the same criteria as
+ *  <code>UString#[]</code>. If the replacement string is not the same length as
+ *  the text it is replacing, the string will be adjusted accordingly. If the
+ *  regular expression or string is used as the index doesn't match a position
+ *  in the string, <code>IndexError</code> is raised. If the regular expression
+ *  form is used, the optional second <code>Fixnum</code> allows you to specify
+ *  which portion of the match to replace (effectively using the
+ *  <code>UMatch</code> indexing rules. The forms that take a
+ *  <code>Fixnum</code> will raise an <code>IndexError</code> if the value is
+ *  out of range; the <code>Range</code> form will raise a
+ *  <code>RangeError</code>, and the <code>URegexp</code> and <code>UString</code>
+ *  forms will silently ignore the assignment.
+ */
+
+VALUE
+icu_ustr_aset_m(argc, argv, str)
+     int             argc;
+     VALUE          *argv;
+     VALUE           str;
+{
+    icu_check_frozen(str);
+    if (argc == 3) {
+	if (CLASS_OF(argv[0]) == rb_cURegexp) {
+	    icu_ustr_subpat_set(str, argv[0], NUM2INT(argv[1]), argv[2]);
+	} else {
+	    icu_ustr_splice(str, NUM2LONG(argv[0]), NUM2LONG(argv[1]),
+			    argv[2]);
+	}
+	return argv[2];
+    }
+    if (argc != 2) {
+	rb_raise(rb_eArgError, "wrong number of arguments (%d for 2)",
+		 argc);
+    }
+    return icu_ustr_aset(str, argv[0], argv[1]);
+}
+
+/**
+ *  call-seq:
+ *     str.slice!(fixnum)           => new_str or nil
+ *     str.slice!(fixnum, fixnum)   => new_str or nil
+ *     str.slice!(range)            => new_str or nil
+ *     str.slice!(regexp)           => new_str or nil
+ *     str.slice!(other_str)        => new_str or nil
+ *  
+ *  Deletes the specified portion from <i>str</i>, and returns the portion
+ *  deleted. The forms that take a <code>Fixnum</code> will raise an
+ *  <code>IndexError</code> if the value is out of range; the <code>Range</code>
+ *  form will raise a <code>RangeError</code>, and the <code>URegexp</code> and
+ *  <code>UString</code> forms will silently ignore the assignment.
+ *     
+ *     string = "this is a string".u
+ *     string.slice!(2)        #=> 105
+ *     string.slice!(3..6)     #=> " is "
+ *     string.slice!(/s.*t/.U)   #=> "sa st"
+ *     string.slice!("r".u)      #=> "r"
+ *     string                  #=> "thing"
+ */
+
+VALUE
+icu_ustr_slice_bang(argc, argv, str)
+     int             argc;
+     VALUE          *argv;
+     VALUE           str;
+{
+    VALUE           result;
+    VALUE           buf[3];
+    int             i;
+    icu_check_frozen(str);
+    if (argc < 1 || 2 < argc) {
+	rb_raise(rb_eArgError, "wrong number of arguments (%d for 1)",
+		 argc);
+    }
+    for (i = 0; i < argc; i++) {
+	buf[i] = argv[i];
+    }
+    buf[i] = icu_ustr_new(0, 0);
+    result = icu_ustr_aref_m(argc, buf, str);
+    if (!NIL_P(result)) {
+	icu_ustr_aset_m(argc + 1, buf, str);
+    }
+    return result;
+}
+
+VALUE
+ustr_gsub(argc, argv, str, bang, once)
+     int             argc;
+     VALUE          *argv;
+     VALUE           str;
+     int             bang;
+     int	     once;
+{
+    VALUE           pat,
+                    repl;
+    long            beg,
+                    end,
+                    prev_end;
+    int             tainted = 0,
+	iter = 0;
+    VALUE buf, curr_repl, umatch, block_res;
+    if (argc == 1 && rb_block_given_p()) {
+	iter = 1;
+    } else if (argc == 2) {
+	repl = argv[1];
+	Check_Class(repl, rb_cUString);
+	if (OBJ_TAINTED(repl))
+	    tainted = 1;
+    } else {
+	rb_raise(rb_eArgError, "wrong number of arguments (%d for 2)",
+		 argc);
+    }
+
+    pat = get_pat(argv[0], 1);
+    beg = icu_reg_search(pat, str, 0, 0);
+
+    if (beg < 0) {
+	/* no match */
+	if (bang)
+	    return Qnil;
+	return icu_ustr_dup(str);
+    }
+    end = 0;
+    icu_check_frozen(str);
+    USTRING(str)->busy = 1;
+    buf = icu_ustr_new(0, 0);
+    pat = icu_reg_clone(pat);
+    if(rb_block_given_p()) iter = 1;
+    do {
+
+	prev_end = end;
+	icu_reg_range(pat, 0, &beg, &end);
+	icu_ustr_concat(buf, icu_reg_get_prematch(pat, prev_end));
+	if ( iter ) {
+	    UChar * ptr = ICU_PTR(str);
+	    long o_len  = ICU_LEN(str);
+	    umatch = icu_umatch_new(pat);
+	    block_res = rb_yield(umatch);
+	    if (CLASS_OF(block_res) == rb_cUString)
+		curr_repl = block_res;
+	    else if (CLASS_OF(block_res) == rb_cUMatch)
+		curr_repl = icu_umatch_aref(block_res, INT2FIX(0));
+	    else
+		curr_repl =
+		    icu_from_rstr(0, NULL, rb_obj_as_string(block_res));
+	    ustr_mod_check(str, ptr, o_len);
+	} else {
+	    curr_repl = icu_reg_get_replacement(pat, repl, prev_end);
+	}
+	icu_ustr_concat(buf, curr_repl);
+    }
+    while (icu_reg_find_next(pat) && !once);
+    icu_ustr_concat(buf, icu_reg_get_tail(pat, end));
+    USTRING(str)->busy = 0;
+    if (bang) {
+	icu_ustr_replace(str, buf);
+	return str;
+    } else {
+	return buf;
+    }
+}
+
+/**
+ *  call-seq:
+ *     str.gsub!(pattern, replacement)        => str or nil
+ *     str.gsub!(pattern) {|match| block }    => str or nil
+ *  
+ *  Performs the substitutions of <code>UString#gsub</code> in place, returning
+ *  <i>str</i>, or <code>nil</code> if no substitutions were performed.
+ */
+
+VALUE
+icu_ustr_gsub_bang(argc, argv, str)
+     int             argc;
+     VALUE          *argv;
+     VALUE           str;
+{
+    icu_check_frozen(str);
+    return ustr_gsub(argc, argv, str, 1, 0);
+}
+
+
+/**
+ *  call-seq:
+ *     str.gsub(pattern, replacement)       => new_str
+ *     str.gsub(pattern) {|match| block }   => new_str
+ *  
+ *  Returns a copy of <i>str</i> with <em>all</em> occurrences of <i>pattern</i>
+ *  replaced with either <i>replacement</i> or the value of the block. The
+ *  <i>pattern</i> will typically be a <code>URegexp</code>; if it is a
+ *  <code>UString</code> then no regular expression metacharacters will be
+ *  interpreted (that is <code>/\d/</code> will match a digit, but
+ *  <code>'\d'</code> will match a backslash followed by a 'd').
+ *     
+ *  If a string is used as the replacement,  the sequences <code>$1</code>, <code>$2</code>, and so on
+ *  may be used to interpolate successive groups in the match.
+ *     
+ *  In the block form, the current UMatch object is passed in as a parameter. The value
+ *  returned by the block will be substituted for the match on each call.
+ *     
+ *     "hello".gsub(/[aeiou]/.U, '*')              #=> "h*ll*"
+ *     "hello".gsub(/([aeiou])/.U, '<$1>')         #=> "h<e>ll<o>"
+ */
+
+VALUE
+icu_ustr_gsub(argc, argv, str)
+     int             argc;
+     VALUE          *argv;
+     VALUE           str;
+{
+    return ustr_gsub(argc, argv, str, 0, 0);
+}
+
+
+/*-------------*/
+/* parsing     */
+extern VALUE icu_date_parse(UChar * str, int32_t str_len, char * locale, UChar * val, int32_t len);
+
+/**
+ * call-seq:
+ *     str.parse_date( locale, value)
+ *  
+ * Parses given  value, using +str+ as format pattern with respect to +locale+.
+ *
+ *     "HH:mm:ss E dd/MM/yyyy".u.parse_date("en", "20:15:01 Fri 13/01/2006".u)) # => Time.local(2006,"jan",13,20,15,1) 
+ *
+ */	
+ 
+VALUE 
+icu_ustr_parse_date( str,  locale, val)
+		VALUE str, locale, val;
+{
+   Check_Type(locale, T_STRING);
+   Check_Class(val, rb_cUString);
+   return icu_date_parse(ICU_PTR(str), ICU_LEN(str), RSTRING(locale)->ptr, ICU_PTR(val), ICU_LEN(val));
+}
+
+/**
+ * call-seq:
+ *     str.to_f( locale = "",[format_pattern]) => aFloat
+ *     
+ * Parses string as double value, with respect to +locale+ and format pattern,
+ * if they are provided.
+ *
+ *      "456".u.to_f                                 # =>  456.0
+ *      "123,001".u.to_f("ru")                       # =>  123.001
+ *      "123,001".u.to_f("en")                       # =>  123001.0
+ *      "Got 123,001".u.to_f("en", "Got ###,###".u)  # =>  123001
+ */	
+ 
+VALUE 
+icu_ustr_parse_double( int argc, VALUE * argv, VALUE str)
+{
+	UParseError 	error;
+	UErrorCode 	status = U_ZERO_ERROR;
+	UNumberFormat  * format = NULL;
+	VALUE		loc, pattern;
+	char 		* locale;
+	double		value;
+	int32_t		pos, n;
+	
+	n =  rb_scan_args(argc, argv, "02", &loc, &pattern) ;
+	if( n == 2) {
+		Check_Class(pattern, rb_cUString);
+	} else pattern = Qnil;
+	
+	if (n > 0) {
+		Check_Type(loc, T_STRING);
+		locale = RSTRING(loc)->ptr;
+	} else locale = NULL;
+	
+	if( pattern != Qnil ) {
+		format = unum_open(UNUM_PATTERN_DECIMAL, ICU_PTR(pattern), ICU_LEN(pattern), locale,
+			&error, &status);
+	} else {
+		format = unum_open(UNUM_DECIMAL, NULL, 0,  locale,&error, &status);
+	}
+	if (U_FAILURE(status) )	rb_raise(rb_eArgError, "can't open format %s", u_errorName(status));
+	pos = 0;
+	value = unum_parseDouble(format, ICU_PTR(str), ICU_LEN(str), &pos, &status);
+	unum_close(format);
+	if (U_FAILURE(status) )	rb_raise(rb_eArgError, "can't parse %s at %d", u_errorName(status), pos);
+	return rb_float_new(value);
+}
+
+/**
+ * call-seq:
+ *     UString::strcoll(str1, str2 )                   => Fixnum
+ *     UString::strcoll(str1, str2 , locale)           => Fixnum
+ *     UString::strcoll(str1, str2 , locale, strength) => Fixnum
+ * 
+ * Performs locale-sensitive string comparison.
+ * Special values for locales can be passed in - if +nil+ is passed for the locale, 
+ * the default locale collation rules will be used. If empty string ("") or "root" are 
+ * passed, UCA rules will be used.
+ *
+ * Strength must be a fixnum that set collation strength:
+ * -1 is default, 0 - primary, 1 - secondary, 2 - ternary.
+ * E.g., pass 0 to ignore case and accents, 1 - to ignore case only.
+ **/
+VALUE
+icu_ustr_coll(argc, argv, self) 
+	int argc;
+	VALUE *argv;
+	VALUE self;
+{
+	UErrorCode status = 0 ;
+	UCollator * collator = 0;
+	int result;
+	VALUE ret = Qnil;
+	VALUE str1, str2, loc, strength = Qnil;
+	char * locale = NULL;
+	int n ;
+	n = rb_scan_args(argc, argv, "22", &str1, &str2, &loc, &strength);
+	if ( n == 3) {
+	   if( loc != Qnil) {
+		   Check_Type(loc, T_STRING);
+	   	   locale = RSTRING(loc)->ptr;
+           }
+	}
+	Check_Class(str1, rb_cUString);
+	Check_Class(str2, rb_cUString);
+	collator = ucol_open(locale, &status);
+	if( U_FAILURE(status) )
+	{
+	  rb_raise(rb_eArgError, u_errorName(status));
+	}
+	if( n == 4 ){
+	 Check_Type(strength, T_FIXNUM);
+	 ucol_setStrength(collator, NUM2INT(strength));
+	}
+	result = ucol_strcoll(collator, ICU_PTR(str1), ICU_LEN(str1), ICU_PTR(str2), ICU_LEN(str2));
+	
+	switch(result){
+	  case UCOL_EQUAL:   ret = INT2FIX(0);break;
+	  case UCOL_GREATER: ret = INT2FIX(1);break;
+	  case UCOL_LESS:    ret = INT2FIX(-1);break;
+	}
+	ucol_close(collator);
+	return ret;
+}
+
+/**
+ * call-seq:
+ *     UString::list_coll => anArray
+ *
+ * Returns array of available collator locales, to be used in UString#strcoll
+ * */
+VALUE icu_ustr_list_coll(str)
+	VALUE str;
+{
+	int32_t i, n =ucol_countAvailable();
+	VALUE ret = rb_ary_new();
+	for( i = 0; i<n; i++) {
+	   rb_ary_push(ret, rb_str_new2(ucol_getAvailable(i)));
+	}
+	return ret;
+}
+
+/**
+ * call-seq:
+ *     UString::list_locales => anArray
+ *
+ * Returns array of available locales.
+ * */
+VALUE icu_ustr_list_locales(str)
+	VALUE str;
+{
+	int32_t i, n =uloc_countAvailable();
+	VALUE ret = rb_ary_new();
+	for( i = 0; i<n; i++) {
+	   rb_ary_push(ret, rb_str_new2(uloc_getAvailable(i)));
+	}
+	return ret;
+}
+/**
+ * call-seq:
+ *     UString::list_translits => anArray
+ *
+ * Returns array of available translits.
+ * */
+VALUE icu_ustr_list_translits(str)
+	VALUE str;
+{
+	UErrorCode  status = U_ZERO_ERROR;
+	UEnumeration *  ids ; 
+	VALUE ret ;
+	UChar * name;
+	int32_t len;
+	ids = utrans_openIDs (&status);
+	ICU_RAISE(status);
+	ret = rb_ary_new();
+	while( (name = (UChar*)uenum_unext(ids, &len, &status))) {
+		rb_ary_push(ret, icu_ustr_new(name, len));
+	}
+	uenum_close(ids);
+	return ret;
+
+}
+/**
+ * call-seq:
+ *     str.search(pattern, options = {})
+ *     
+ * Searches for match in string. Returns array of +Range+
+ * corresponding to position where pattern is matched.
+ *
+ * Valid options are:
+ *      :locale -- locale, +String+, value e.g. "en", "ru_RU"
+ *      :ignore_case --	whether to ignore case, valid values are +true+ or +false+, default to +false+
+ *      :ignore_case_accents -- sets collator options to strength +0+ - primary difference, e.g. ignore case and accents, 
+ *                            overrides :ignore_case: option, default to +false+, 
+ *      :loosely -- same as :ignore_case_accents
+ *      :limit -- Fixnum limit of match positions to return.
+ *      :whole_words --  whether to match whole words only
+ *      :canonical --  use canonical equivalence
+ *
+ *
+ *     a = "A quick brown fox jumped over the lazy fox dancing foxtrote".u
+ *     a.search("fox".u)                                                       # => [14..16, 39..41, 51..53]
+ *     a.search("FoX".u)                                                       # => []
+ *     a.search("FoX".u, :ignore_case => true)                                 # => [14..16, 39..41, 51..53]
+ *     a.search("FoX".u, :ignore_case => true, :whole_words => true)           # => [14..16, 39..41]
+ *     a.search("FoX".u, :ignore_case => true, :whole_words => true, :limit => 1)  # => [14..16]
+ *     
+ *     b = "Iñtërnâtiônàlizætiøn îs cọmpłèx".u.upcase     # => IÑTËRNÂTIÔNÀLIZÆTIØN ÎS CỌMPŁÈX
+ *     b.search("nâtiôn".u, :locale => "en")                                   # => []
+ *     b.search("nation".u)                                                    # => []
+ *     b.search("nation".u, :locale => "en", :ignore_case_accents => true)     # => [5..10]
+ *     b.search("nâtiôn".u, :locale => "en", :ignore_case => true)             # => [5..10]
+ *     b.search("zaeti".u,  :locale => "en" )                                  # => []
+ *     b.search("zaeti".u,  :locale => "en", :ignore_case => true)             # => []
+ *     b.search("zaeti".u,  :locale => "en", :ignore_case_accents => true)     # => [14..17]
+ *
+ *     v = [?a, 0x0325, 0x0300].to_u # =>   ḁ̀
+ *     v.search([?a, 0x300].to_u, :canonical => true) # => [0..2]
+ *     v.search([?a, 0x300].to_u) # => []
+ **/
+
+VALUE icu_ustr_search(argc, argv, str)
+        int           argc;
+	VALUE        *argv;
+	VALUE          str;
+	
+{
+	UErrorCode status = U_ZERO_ERROR;
+	UStringSearch * search = 0 ;
+	VALUE  pat, locale ,  limit, options;
+	int lim = -1, count = 0 ;
+	int32_t start,  len;
+	VALUE ret = rb_ary_new();
+	UCollator * collator = 0;
+	UBreakIterator * brkit = 0;
+	char  * loc = 0;
+        if ( rb_scan_args(argc, argv, "11", &pat, &options) == 2 ) {
+	   Check_Type(options, T_HASH);
+	} else {
+	   options = Qnil;
+	}
+	
+	Check_Class(pat, rb_cUString);
+	locale = options == Qnil ? Qnil : rb_hash_aref(options, ID2SYM(rb_intern("locale")));
+	
+	if( locale != Qnil ) {
+	   Check_Type(locale, T_STRING);
+	   loc = RSTRING(locale) -> ptr;
+	}
+	limit = options == Qnil ? Qnil : rb_hash_aref(options, ID2SYM(rb_intern("limit")));
+	
+	if(TYPE(limit) == T_FIXNUM) {
+	 lim = FIX2INT(limit);
+	 if(lim <= 0) {
+	   rb_raise(rb_eTypeError, "Limit must be positive or nil, got: %d", lim);
+	 }
+	}
+	else 
+  	 if (limit!=Qnil)
+	    rb_raise(rb_eArgError, "Limit must be Fixnum, got %s", rb_class2name(CLASS_OF(limit)));
+	    
+	collator = ucol_open(loc, &status);
+	ucol_setStrength(collator, -1);
+	
+	if( options != Qnil && Qtrue == rb_hash_aref( options, ID2SYM(rb_intern("whole_words"))) ) 
+	  brkit = ubrk_open(UBRK_WORD, loc, ICU_PTR(str), ICU_LEN(str),  &status);
+	  
+	if( options != Qnil && Qtrue == rb_hash_aref( options, ID2SYM(rb_intern("ignore_case"))) )
+	   ucol_setStrength(collator, UCOL_SECONDARY);
+	   
+	if( options != Qnil && 
+		( Qtrue == rb_hash_aref( options, ID2SYM(rb_intern("ignore_case_accents")) ) 
+		  || Qtrue == rb_hash_aref( options, ID2SYM(rb_intern("loosely")) ) 
+		) 
+	   )
+	   ucol_setStrength(collator, UCOL_PRIMARY );
+	   
+
+	search   = usearch_openFromCollator(ICU_PTR(pat), ICU_LEN(pat), 
+	                ICU_PTR(str), ICU_LEN(str), 
+			collator,  brkit, &status);
+			
+	if( options != Qnil && Qtrue == rb_hash_aref( options, ID2SYM(rb_intern("canonical"))) )
+	    usearch_setAttribute(search, USEARCH_CANONICAL_MATCH, USEARCH_ON, &status);
+	
+	if( U_FAILURE(status) )	   goto failure;
+	
+	status = U_ZERO_ERROR;
+	if( usearch_first(search, &status) == USEARCH_DONE) {
+	   usearch_close(search);
+	   ucol_close(collator);
+	   ubrk_close(brkit);
+	   return ret;
+	}
+
+	do {
+	  if( U_FAILURE(status) ) goto failure;
+	  
+	  start = usearch_getMatchedStart(search);
+	  len   = usearch_getMatchedLength(search);
+	  rb_ary_push(ret, rb_range_new(LONG2NUM(start), LONG2NUM(start+len-1), 0));
+	  
+	  status = U_ZERO_ERROR;
+	  count += 1;
+	  if (lim > 0 && count >= lim) break;
+	} while (USEARCH_DONE != usearch_next(search, &status));
+	usearch_close( search);
+	ucol_close(collator);
+	ubrk_close(brkit);
+	return ret;
+
+failure:
+        usearch_close( search);
+	ucol_close(collator);
+	ubrk_close(brkit);
+
+	rb_raise(rb_eArgError, u_errorName(status));
+	return Qnil;
+}
+/**
+ * call-seq:
+ *     str.conv_unit_range(unit_range) => code_point_range
+ *
+ * Converts <b>code unit</b> range to <b>code point</b> range.
+ * If your chars don't use multiple UTF16 codeunits, range will be the same.
+ */
+VALUE icu_ustr_convert_unit_range(str, range) 
+	VALUE		str, range;
+{
+    long cu_start, cu_len, cur_pos, cp_len ;
+    if( rb_range_beg_len(range, &cu_start, &cu_len, ICU_LEN(str), 0) != Qtrue)
+	    return Qnil;
+		    
+    cur_pos  = u_countChar32( ICU_PTR(str), cu_start );
+    if( cu_start+cu_len > ICU_LEN(str)) --cu_len;
+    cp_len   = u_countChar32( ICU_PTR(str) + cu_start , cu_len);
+    return rb_range_new(LONG2NUM(cur_pos), LONG2NUM(cur_pos + cp_len-1), 0);
+}
+/**
+ * call-seq:
+ *     str.conv_point_range(point_range) => code_unit_range
+ *
+ * Converts <b>code point</b> range to <b>code unit</b> range. 
+ * (inversion of #conv_unit_range)
+ * If your chars don't use multiple UTF16 codeuints, range will be the same.
+ */
+VALUE icu_ustr_convert_point_range(str, range) 
+	VALUE		str, range;
+{
+    long cp_start,  cu_start, cu_end, cp_len, str_cp_len;
+    str_cp_len = u_countChar32( ICU_PTR(str), ICU_LEN(str));
+    if( Qtrue != rb_range_beg_len(range, &cp_start, &cp_len, str_cp_len, 0) )  return Qnil;
+    
+    cu_start = 0;
+    U16_FWD_N(ICU_PTR(str), cu_start, ICU_LEN(str), cp_start); /* care sur */
+    cu_end = cu_start;
+    U16_FWD_N(ICU_PTR(str), cu_end, ICU_LEN(str), cp_len); /* care sur */
+    
+    return rb_range_new(LONG2NUM(cu_start), LONG2NUM(cu_end-1), 0);
+}
+/**
+ * call-seq:
+ *     str.unit_count
+ *
+ * returns number of code units in string.
+ * 
+ */
+VALUE icu_ustr_unit_count(VALUE str){
+   return LONG2NUM(ICU_LEN(str));
+}
+/**
+ * call-seq:
+ *     str.point_count
+ *
+ * returns number of code points in string.
+ * 
+ */
+VALUE icu_ustr_point_count(VALUE str){
+   return LONG2NUM(u_countChar32(ICU_PTR(str), ICU_LEN(str)));
+}
+
+UChar icu_uchar_at(int32_t offset, void * context) 
+{
+	return ((UChar*)context)[offset];
+}
+/**
+ * call-seq:
+ *    str.unescape  => new_str
+ *
+ * Unescape a string of characters.
+ *
+ * The following escape sequences are recognized:
+ *     \uhhhh 4 hex digits; h in [0-9A-Fa-f] 
+ *     \Uhhhhhhhh 8 hex digits 
+ *     \xhh 1-2 hex digits \x{h...} 1-8 hex digits 
+ *     \ooo 1-3 octal digits; o in [0-7] 
+ *     \cX control-X; X is masked with 0x1F
+ *     
+ *  as well as the standard ANSI C escapes:
+ *   \a => U+0007,  \b => U+0008, \t => U+0009, \n => U+000A, \v => U+000B, \f => U+000C, \r => U+000D, \e => U+001B, \" => U+0022, \' => U+0027, \? => U+003F, \\ => U+005C
+ *
+ * If escape sequence is invalid, it is ignored.
+ *
+ *     "\\u044D\\u043A\\u0440\\u0430\\u043D\\u0438\\u0440\\u043E\\u0432\\u0430\\u043D\\u0438\\u0435".u.unescape => "экранирование"
+ *
+ **/
+
+VALUE icu_ustr_unescape(str)
+	VALUE	str;
+{
+	UChar32 	c32;
+	int32_t		offset, leng, i, segment_start;
+	UChar		* ptr;
+	UChar		buf[3];
+	VALUE		ret;
+	offset = 0;
+	segment_start = 0;
+	leng = ICU_LEN(str);
+	ptr  = ICU_PTR(str);
+	ret  = icu_ustr_new(0, 0);
+	while(offset < leng) {
+	    if( ptr[offset] == '\\' ) {
+	    	ustr_splice_units(USTRING(ret), ICU_LEN(ret), 0, ptr+segment_start, offset-segment_start);
+	    	++offset;
+	 	c32 = u_unescapeAt(icu_uchar_at, &offset, leng, ICU_PTR(str));
+		// append this char
+		if( 0xFFFFFFFF == c32) continue;
+		i = 0;
+		U16_APPEND_UNSAFE(buf, i, c32);
+		ustr_splice_units(USTRING(ret), ICU_LEN(ret), 0, buf, U16_LENGTH(c32));
+		segment_start = offset;
+	    } else {
+	    	++offset;
+	    }
+	}
+	if( segment_start < offset)
+	ustr_splice_units(USTRING(ret), ICU_LEN(ret), 0, ptr+segment_start, offset-segment_start);
+
+	return ret;
+}	
+
+
+
+/* transliteration */
+extern VALUE icu_transliterate(UChar * str, int32_t str_len, UChar * id, int32_t id_len, UChar * rules, int32_t rule_len);
+/**
+ * call-seq:
+ *     str.translit(id, [rules])
+ *
+ * Performs {transliteration}[http://icu.sourceforge.net/userguide/Transformations.html],
+ * of this string, using given transform +id+ and +rules+
+ *
+ *     "yukihiro matsumoto".u.translit("Latin-Hiragana".u) # => ゆきひろ まつもと
+ *     "hello".u.translit("null".u, ":: upper();".u)        # => HELLO
+ **/
+VALUE icu_ustr_translit(argc, argv, str)
+	int argc;
+	VALUE * argv ;
+	VALUE str;
+{
+	VALUE id, rules ;
+	if(rb_scan_args(argc, argv, "11", &id, &rules) == 2) {
+		Check_Class(rules, rb_cUString);
+	} else rules = Qnil;
+	
+	Check_Class(str, rb_cUString);
+	Check_Class(id, rb_cUString);
+	if( rules == Qnil) {
+	    return icu_transliterate(ICU_PTR(str), ICU_LEN(str), ICU_PTR(id), ICU_LEN(id), NULL, 0);
+	} else {
+	    return icu_transliterate(ICU_PTR(str), ICU_LEN(str), ICU_PTR(id), ICU_LEN(id), 
+	    			ICU_PTR(rules), ICU_LEN(rules));
+	}
+}
+void
+initialize_ustring(void)
+{
+    UErrorCode status = U_ZERO_ERROR;
+    u_init(&status);
+    if( U_FAILURE(status) ){
+       rb_raise(rb_eRuntimeError, "Can't initialize : %s", u_errorName(status));
+    }
+    s_UCA_collator =  ucol_open("", &status);
+    if( U_FAILURE(status) ){
+       rb_raise(rb_eRuntimeError, "Can't initialize : %s", u_errorName(status));
+    }
+    s_case_UCA_collator =  ucol_open("", &status);
+    if( U_FAILURE(status) ){
+       rb_raise(rb_eRuntimeError, "Can't initialize : %s", u_errorName(status));
+    }
+    ucol_setStrength(s_case_UCA_collator, UCOL_SECONDARY);
+    
+/*
+
+Document-class: UString
+   
+UString is a string class that stores Unicode characters directly and provides 
+similar functionality as the Ruby String class.
+
+An UString string consists of 16-bit Unicode code units. A Unicode character 
+may be stored with either one code unit which is the most common case or with a matched 
+pair of special code units ("surrogates"). 
+
+For single-character handling, a Unicode character code point is a value in the 
+range 0..0x10ffff. 
+
+Indexes and offsets into and lengths of strings always count code units, not code points. 
+This is the same as with multi-byte char* strings in traditional string handling. 
+Operations on partial strings typically do not test for code point boundaries.
+
+In order to use the collation, text boundary analysis, formatting and other ICU APIs, 
+Unicode strings must be used. In order to get Unicode strings from your native codepage, 
+you can use the conversion API.
+
+UString class is also point for  access to several ICU services, instead of 
+mirroring ICU class hierarchy.
+   
+====  Methods by category:
+  
+- concat and modify:  + ,  * ,  << ,  #concat ,  #replace  
+
+- element reference, insert, replace:  [] ,  #slice , []= ,  #slice! ,  #insert , #char_span 
+
+- comparisons:  <=> ,  == ,  #casecmp ,  #strcoll  
+
+- size and positions:  #length ,  #point_count ,  #clear ,  #empty? ,  #conv_unit_range ,  #conv_point_range  
+
+- index/search methods:  #index ,  #rindex ,  #include? ,  #search  
+
+- regexps, matching and replacing: =~ ,  #match ,  #scan ,  #split ,  #sub ,  #sub! ,  #gsub ,  #gsub!  
+
+- conversion String/UString:  #to_s, Kernel#u, String#to_u
+
+- iterators:  #each_line_break ,  #each_word ,  #each_char ,  #each_sentence 
+
+- split to chars/codepoints:  #chars ,  #codepoints , Array#to_u  
+
+- character case:   #upcase ,  #upcase! ,  #downcase ,  #downcase!  
+
+- stripping spaces:  #strip ,  #lstrip ,  #rstrip ,  #strip! ,  #lstrip! ,  #rstrip!  
+
+- formatting and parsing:  #format ,  #parse_date ,  #to_f  
+
+- UNICODE normalization:  #norm_C ,  #norm_D ,  #norm_KC ,  #norm_KD ,  #norm_FCD  
+
+- utilities:  #unescape ,  #hash ,  #inspect ,  #inspect_names ,  #translit  
+
+- ICU avalable info: #list_coll ,  #list_locales ,  #list_translits  
+*/
+    rb_cUString = rb_define_class("UString", rb_cObject);
+    rb_include_module(rb_cUString, rb_mComparable);
+
+    /* initializations */
+    rb_define_alloc_func(rb_cUString, icu_ustr_alloc);
+    rb_define_method(rb_cUString, "initialize", icu_ustr_init, -1);
+    rb_define_method(rb_cUString, "initialize_copy", icu_ustr_replace, 1);
+    rb_define_method(rb_cUString, "replace", icu_ustr_replace, 1);
+
+    /* comparisons */
+    rb_define_method(rb_cUString, "<=>", icu_ustr_cmp_m, 1);
+    rb_define_method(rb_cUString, "==",  icu_ustr_equal, 1);
+    rb_define_method(rb_cUString, "casecmp", icu_ustr_casecmp, 1);
+    rb_define_singleton_method(rb_cUString, "strcoll", icu_ustr_coll, -1);
+
+    /* ICU avalable info */
+    rb_define_singleton_method(rb_cUString, "list_coll", icu_ustr_list_coll, 0);
+    rb_define_singleton_method(rb_cUString, "list_locales", icu_ustr_list_locales, 0);
+    rb_define_singleton_method(rb_cUString, "list_translits", icu_ustr_list_translits, 0);
+
+    /* hash code */
+    rb_define_method(rb_cUString, "hash", icu_ustr_hash_m, 0);
+
+    /* inspect */
+    rb_define_method(rb_cUString, "inspect", icu_ustr_inspect, 0);
+    rb_define_method(rb_cUString, "inspect_names", icu_ustr_inspect_names,  0);
+
+    /* size */
+    rb_define_method(rb_cUString, "length", icu_ustr_length, 0);
+    rb_define_alias (rb_cUString, "size", "length");
+    rb_define_method(rb_cUString, "unit_count", icu_ustr_unit_count, 0);
+    rb_define_method(rb_cUString, "point_count", icu_ustr_point_count, 0);
+    rb_define_method(rb_cUString, "clear", icu_ustr_clear, 0);
+    rb_define_method(rb_cUString, "empty?", icu_ustr_empty, 0);
+
+    /* UNICODE normalization */
+    rb_define_method(rb_cUString, "norm_C", icu_ustr_normalize_C, 0);
+    rb_define_method(rb_cUString, "norm_D", icu_ustr_normalize_D, 0);
+    rb_define_method(rb_cUString, "norm_KC", icu_ustr_normalize_KC, 0);
+    rb_define_method(rb_cUString, "norm_KD", icu_ustr_normalize_KD, 0);
+    rb_define_method(rb_cUString, "norm_FCD", icu_ustr_normalize_FCD, 0);
+
+    /* iterators */
+    rb_define_method(rb_cUString, "each_line_break", icu_ustr_each_line, -1);
+    rb_define_method(rb_cUString, "each_word", icu_ustr_each_word, -1);
+    rb_define_method(rb_cUString, "each_char", icu_ustr_each_char, -1);
+    rb_define_method(rb_cUString, "each_sentence", icu_ustr_each_sentence, -1);
+    rb_define_alias(rb_cUString,  "each", "each_line_break");
+
+    /* split to chars/codepoints */
+    rb_define_method(rb_cUString, "chars", icu_ustr_chars_m, -1);
+    rb_define_method(rb_cUString, "char_span", icu_ustr_char_span, -1);
+    rb_define_method(rb_cUString, "codepoints", icu_ustr_points, 0);
+
+    /* concat operations */
+    rb_define_method(rb_cUString, "+", icu_ustr_plus, 1); 
+    rb_define_method(rb_cUString, "*", icu_ustr_times, 1);
+    rb_define_method(rb_cUString, "concat", icu_ustr_concat, 1);
+    rb_define_alias( rb_cUString, "<<", "concat");
+
+    /* character case  */
+    rb_define_method(rb_cUString, "upcase", icu_ustr_upcase, -1);
+    rb_define_method(rb_cUString, "upcase!", icu_ustr_upcase_bang, -1);
+    rb_define_method(rb_cUString, "downcase", icu_ustr_downcase, -1);
+    rb_define_method(rb_cUString, "downcase!", icu_ustr_downcase_bang, -1);
+    rb_define_method(rb_cUString, "foldcase", icu_ustr_foldcase, 0);
+
+    /* stripping spaces */
+    rb_define_method(rb_cUString, "strip", icu_ustr_strip, 0);
+    rb_define_method(rb_cUString, "lstrip", icu_ustr_lstrip, 0);
+    rb_define_method(rb_cUString, "rstrip", icu_ustr_rstrip, 0);
+
+    rb_define_method(rb_cUString, "strip!", icu_ustr_strip_bang, 0);
+    rb_define_method(rb_cUString, "lstrip!", icu_ustr_lstrip_bang, 0);
+    rb_define_method(rb_cUString, "rstrip!", icu_ustr_rstrip_bang, 0);
+
+    /* index/search methods */
+    rb_define_method(rb_cUString, "index", icu_ustr_index_m, -1);
+    rb_define_method(rb_cUString, "rindex", icu_ustr_rindex_m, -1);
+    rb_define_method(rb_cUString, "include?", icu_ustr_include, 1);
+    rb_define_method(rb_cUString, "search", icu_ustr_search, -1);
+
+    /* element reference */
+    rb_define_method(rb_cUString, "[]", icu_ustr_aref_m, -1);
+    rb_define_alias(rb_cUString, "slice", "[]");
+
+    /* codeunit/codepoint conversion */
+    rb_define_method(rb_cUString, "conv_unit_range", icu_ustr_convert_unit_range, 1);
+    rb_define_method(rb_cUString, "conv_point_range", icu_ustr_convert_point_range, 1);
+
+    /* insert/replace */
+    rb_define_method(rb_cUString, "[]=", icu_ustr_aset_m, -1);
+    rb_define_method(rb_cUString, "slice!", icu_ustr_slice_bang, -1);
+    rb_define_method(rb_cUString, "insert", icu_ustr_insert, 2);
+
+    /* conversion to String from UString */
+    rb_define_method(rb_cUString, "to_u", icu_ustr_to_ustr, -1);
+    rb_define_method(rb_cUString, "to_s", icu_ustr_to_rstr, -1);
+    rb_define_alias(rb_cUString, "to_str", "to_s");
+
+    /* formatting messages */
+    rb_define_method(rb_cUString, "format", icu_ustr_format, -2);
+    rb_define_alias( rb_cUString, "fmt", "format");
+
+    /* parsing */
+    rb_define_method(rb_cUString, "parse_date", icu_ustr_parse_date, 2);
+    rb_define_method(rb_cUString, "to_f", icu_ustr_parse_double, -1);
+
+    /* transliteration */
+    rb_define_method(rb_cUString, "translit", icu_ustr_translit, -1);
+
+    /* unescaping */
+    rb_define_method(rb_cUString, "unescape",  icu_ustr_unescape, 0);
+    
+    /* regexp matching and replacing */
+    rb_define_method(rb_cUString, "=~", icu_ustr_match, 1);
+    rb_define_method(rb_cUString, "match", icu_ustr_match_m, 1);
+    rb_define_method(rb_cUString, "scan", icu_ustr_scan, 1);
+    rb_define_method(rb_cUString, "split", icu_ustr_split_m, -1);
+    rb_define_method(rb_cUString, "sub", icu_ustr_sub, -1);
+    rb_define_method(rb_cUString, "sub!", icu_ustr_sub_bang, -1);
+    rb_define_method(rb_cUString, "gsub", icu_ustr_gsub, -1);
+    rb_define_method(rb_cUString, "gsub!", icu_ustr_gsub_bang, -1);
+
+}
+