Type & Text
Introduction
A library of After Effects expressions to be used for sourceText property of a Text Layer.
Repetition
Repeat input string

n = 10; // number to times to repeat
value.repeat(n)
Text Grid - Uniform Repetition

Explicit
var s = value; // Source text
var numColumns = 5; // Number of columns
var numRows = 10; // Number of rows
var row = s.repeat(numColumns) + "\r";
row.repeat(numRows);
Concise
(value.repeat(5) + "\r").repeat(10);
Text Grid - Multiple Line Repetition
This code splits a comma-separated string into an array, then formats it into a text block with rows and columns by repeating each item with added prefixes and suffixes.
const str = value;
const strArr = str.split(",");
const prefix = "";
const suffix = " ";
const numColumns = 5;
const numRows = 10;
let result = "";
for (let i = 0; i < numRows; i++) {
const eleIndex = i % strArr.length;
result += (prefix+strArr[eleIndex]+suffix).repeat(numColumns) + "\r";
}
result;
Text Grid - Number Sequence
This code creates a string of sequential numbers between a start and end range. The numbers are arranged in rows and columns, and each number can have leading zeros and spaces after it.
//user variables
var startNum = 0;
var maxNum = 200;
var numCol = 10;
var numZero = 2;
var numSpace = 1;
var s = "";
for (var i = 1; i <= maxNum; i++) {
// add startNum
var n = startNum + i - 1;
// add zeroes
for (var j = 1; j <= numZero; j++) {
if (n < Math.pow(10, j)) s += 0
}
// add number to string
s += n;
// add spaces
for (var j = 0; j < numSpace; j++) s += ' '
// add line break
i % numCol == 0 ? s += '\n' : s
}
Text Grid - Random Letter
This function generates a grid of random letters, and the user specify the total number of letters and letters per row.
function genLetter() {
r = random(65, 90); //from a to z
return String.fromCharCode(r);
}
function randAlphabet(maxNum, col, seed) {
seedRandom(seed, true);
var s = "";
for (i = 1; i <= maxNum; i++) {
s += genLetter() + ' ';
if (i % col == 0) s += '\n'; // add line break
}
return s
}
randAlphabet(500, 25, 1)
Text Grid - Random Binary

function binary(maxNum, col, seed) {
seedRandom(seed, true);
var s = "";
for (var i = 1; i <= maxNum; i++) {
s += Math.round(random()) + ' ';
if (i % col == 0) s += '\n';
}
return s;
}
// Usage
binary(500, 25, 1);
Randomization
Random Letter

// User Input
var numOfLetters = 10; // Modify the number of letters to generate
var useSpaces = true; // Modify to include spaces between letters (true) or not (false)
var changeEveryFrame = false; // Modify if the generated letters should change every frame
// Don’t modify below this line
seedRandom(index, !changeEveryFrame);
function genLetter() {
var r = random(65, 90); // Generate a random number representing a letter (ASCII code for A to Z)
return String.fromCharCode(r); // Convert the number to the corresponding letter character
}
var result = "";
for (var i = 0; i < numOfLetters; i++) {
result += genLetter();
if (useSpaces) {
result += " "; // Add a space between letters if useSpaces is true
}
}
result;
//source: https://creativecow.net/forums/thread/random-letters-4/
Random Digit
seedRandom(10,true);
Math.round(random(9));
String Manipulation
Search and replacing string instances
var searchString = /\r/g; // \r: lien break; \g: global flag
var replaceString = "newString";
value.replace(searchString, replaceString);
Parsing Text
// if comp name is "comp_05", to get number use this
thisComp.name.split("_")[1] // replace delimiter based on your needs
Separating source text line feeds into an array
// Method 1
txt = thisComp.layer("insert Text").text.sourceText;
txt.split("\r")[3]; // Regex
// Method 2:using name as index
txt = thisComp.layer("insert Text").text.sourceText;
myIndex = thisLayer.name;
txt.split("\r")[myIndex];
myNum = parseInt(thisComp.name.split(" ")[1],10);
Numbers
Rounding numbers
// Use any of the following
Math.floor(value);
Math.ceil(value);
Round up if above threshold
function roundSpecific(num,thres){
dec = num - Math.floor(num)
if(dec>=thres) {num = Math.ceil(num);
}
return num
}
// usage
roundSpecific(385.96,.9)
Counter
startTime = 0
endTime = 2;
startNum = 0;
endNun = 10000
linear(time,startTime,endTime,startNum,endNum);
Dates
Current date
D = new Date(Date(0));
“” + D.getDate() + “/” + (D.getMonth()+1) + “/” + D.getFullYear()
// get year
D = new Date(Date(0));
D.getFullYear()
// get month
D = new Date(Date(0));
D.getMonth()+1
// get day
D = new Date(Date(0));
D.getDate()
Expressions selector
Recommended readings
Default
selectorValue * textIndex/textTotal
Alternating Effector
if(textIndex%2) -100; else 100
Random position from textIndex
seedRandom(textIndex,true);
random([100,100]);
Select text indexes explicitly; e.g. 1, 3, 7, 14, 22, etc.?
If you don't have a lot of numbers, then this works:
if(textIndex === 1 || textIndex ===3) {
100;
} else {
0;
}
If you do have a ton of numbers, then this works:
i = [1,3,5,7,10,11];
inArray(i);
function inArray(obj) {
b = 0;
for(i = 0; i < obj.length; i++) {
if(obj[i] === textIndex) {
b = 100;
break;
}
}
return b;
}
Sin wave effector [source]
freq = .5;
selectorValue*Math.sin(time*freq*Math.PI*2 + Math.PI*2* textIndex/textTotal)
Basics
// getting the character count
l = thisComp.layer("your text layer").text.sourceText.length;
// getting word count
l = thisComp.layer("your text layer").text.sourceText;
wordsCount = l.split(/ ,| | \./).length;
// Matching text with regex
thisComp.layer("text").text.sourceText.toLowerCase().match(/\w+\./))
// includes() — determines whether a string contains the characters of a specified strin
var str = "Hello world, welcome to the universe.";
var n = str.includes("world");
Utility Functions
Find Number of Layers that includes string
function findLayerbyName(str) {
var n = thisComp.numLayers;
var numMattes = 0;
for (i = 1; i <= n; i++) {
thisComp.layer(i).name.includes(str) == 1 ? numMattes += 1 : 0;
}
return numMattes
}
findLayerbyName("matte")
Expression Selector (Regex)
https://forums.creativecow.net/thread/227/41461
Oleg Pirogov
https://dribbble.com/zeplin
var t = text.sourceText;
var regex = /\d[a-z]+(?=,)/g;
function indexMatched(index){
var matched = false;
var match;
var i=[];
while ((match = regex.exec(t)) !== null){
matched |= match.index<index & index<match.index+match[0].length;
i.push([match, match.index, match.index+match[0].length]);
}
return matched;
}
indexMatched(textIndex-1) ? 100 : 0;
var t = text.sourceText;
var regex = /\(([^)]+)(?=\))/g;
function indexMatched(index){
var matched = false;
var match;
while ((match = regex.exec(t)) !== null){
matched |= match.index<index & index<match.index+match[0].length;
}
return matched;
}
indexMatched(textIndex-1) ? 100 : 0;
Hexcode
var t = text.sourceText;
var regex = /[A-Fa-f0-9]{6}/g;
function indexMatched(index){
var matched = false;
var match;
while ((match = regex.exec(t)) !== null){
matched |= match.index<index & index<=match.index+match[0].length;
}
return matched;
}
indexMatched(textIndex) ? 100 : 0;
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