The virtual ModString class derives from the XString virtual
class. Like its parent and its children, it is used for storing sequences of
characters. However, the XString/BString class requires single
byte characters as the letters of the input sequences. The ModString
extends the capability for multi-byte chracters by encoding these characters
into a single byte characters using a dictionary for internal conversion. It
also takes care of different encoding behavior of operating systems.
The ModDNAString and ModRNAString classes derive
from the ModString class and use the functionality to store nucleotide
sequences containing modified nucleotides. To describe modified RNA and DNA
nucleotides with a single letter, special characters are commonly used, eg.
from the greek alphabet, which are multi-byte characters.
The ModString class is virtual and it cannot be directly used to
create an object. Please have a look at ModDNAString and
ModRNAString for the specific alphabets of the individual
classes.