A StringBuffer is an internal pointer to a sized chunk of bytes. The bytes are intended to be *immutable*. There are pure operations to read the contents of a StringBuffer.

A StringBuffer may have a finalizer, depending on how it was obtained.

Read a file into a StringBuffer. The resulting buffer is automatically managed by the garbage collector.

Encode a String into a StringBuffer as UTF-8. The resulting buffer is automatically managed by the garbage collector.

Return the first UTF-8 character of a nonempty StringBuffer and as well the remaining portion (analogous to uncons). Warning: The behavior is undefined if the StringBuffer is empty. The result shares the same buffer as the original. Similar to utf8DecodeChar, if the character cannot be decoded as UTF-8, '\0' is returned.

Return the first UTF-8 character of a nonempty StringBuffer (analogous to head). Warning: The behavior is undefined if the StringBuffer is empty. Similar to utf8DecodeChar, if the character cannot be decoded as UTF-8, '\0' is returned.

Check whether a StringBuffer is empty (analogous to null).

Return a StringBuffer with the first UTF-8 character removed (analogous to tail). Warning: The behavior is undefined if the StringBuffer is empty. The result shares the same buffer as the original.

Return a StringBuffer with the first n bytes removed. Warning: If there aren't enough characters, the returned StringBuffer will be invalid and any use of it may lead to undefined behavior. The result shares the same buffer as the original.

Compute the difference in offset between two StringBuffers that share the same buffer. Warning: The behavior is undefined if the StringBuffers use separate buffers.

Decode the first n bytes of a StringBuffer as UTF-8 into a String. Similar to utf8DecodeChar, if the character cannot be decoded as UTF-8, they will be replaced with '\0'.