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# Lodash StartCase
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Lodash StartCase provides the `startCase` method from the Lodash utility library as a standalone module. The `startCase` function converts strings to start case format, where each word is capitalized and separated by spaces. It handles various input formats including camelCase, snake_case, kebab-case, and other delimited strings, transforming them into properly formatted title case text.
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## Package Information
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- **Package Name**: lodash.startcase
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- **Package Type**: npm
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- **Language**: JavaScript
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- **Installation**: `npm install lodash.startcase`
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## Core Imports
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```javascript
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var startCase = require('lodash.startcase');
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```
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For ES modules (if supported):
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```javascript
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import startCase from 'lodash.startcase';
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```
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## Basic Usage
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```javascript
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var startCase = require('lodash.startcase');
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// Convert camelCase
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var result1 = startCase('fooBar');
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// => 'Foo Bar'
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// Convert kebab-case  
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var result2 = startCase('--foo-bar');
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// => 'Foo Bar'
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// Convert snake_case
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var result3 = startCase('__foo_bar__');
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// => 'Foo Bar'
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// Convert space-separated
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var result4 = startCase('foo bar');
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// => 'Foo Bar'
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// Handle all caps (converted to proper case)
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var result5 = startCase('FOO BAR');
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// => 'Foo Bar'
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```
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## Capabilities
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### Start Case Conversion
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Converts strings to start case format where each word is capitalized and separated by spaces.
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```javascript { .api }
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/**
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 * Converts string to start case.
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 * @param {string} [string=''] - The string to convert
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 * @returns {string} Returns the start cased string
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 */
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function startCase(string)
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```
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**Usage Examples:**
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```javascript
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var startCase = require('lodash.startcase');
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// Basic conversions
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startCase('fooBar');
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// => 'Foo Bar'
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startCase('foo-bar');  
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// => 'Foo Bar'
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startCase('foo_bar');
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// => 'Foo Bar'
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startCase('foo bar');
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// => 'Foo Bar'
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// Handles various delimiters
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startCase('--foo-bar--');
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// => 'Foo Bar'
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startCase('__foo_bar__');
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// => 'Foo Bar'
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// All caps (converted to proper case)
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startCase('FOO BAR');
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// => 'Foo Bar'
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startCase('fOoBaR');
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// => 'F Oo Ba R'
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// Empty and null handling
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startCase('');
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// => ''
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startCase();
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// => ''
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// Accented characters
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startCase('café-münü');
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// => 'Cafe Menu'
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// Numbers and special characters
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startCase('foo2bar');
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// => 'Foo 2 Bar'
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startCase('foo-bar-123');
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// => 'Foo Bar 123'
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```
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## Implementation Details
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The `startCase` function:
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1. **Input Processing**: Accepts any input and converts it to a string
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2. **Deburring**: Removes diacritical marks from Latin characters (café → cafe)
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3. **Word Extraction**: Uses pattern matching to identify word boundaries across various formats:
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   - Camel case boundaries (fooBar → foo, Bar)
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   - Underscore delimiters (foo_bar → foo, bar)
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   - Hyphen delimiters (foo-bar → foo, bar)
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   - Space delimiters (foo bar → foo, bar)
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   - Mixed delimiters (__foo-bar__ → foo, bar)
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4. **Capitalization**: Capitalizes the first character of each extracted word
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5. **Joining**: Combines words with single spaces
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## Error Handling
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- **Null/Undefined Input**: Returns empty string
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- **Non-String Input**: Automatically converted to string representation
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- **Empty String**: Returns empty string
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- **No Exceptions**: Function does not throw errors for any input type
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## Performance Characteristics
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- **Algorithm**: Single-pass processing with regex-based word extraction
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- **Memory**: Minimal allocation, processes input once
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- **Compatibility**: Works in all JavaScript environments (Node.js, browsers)
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- **Dependencies**: Standalone module with no external dependencies