chore(docs): add strings guides

Makefile

@@ -824,7 +824,7 @@ test_strings: install_rs_build_toolchain
 .PHONY: test_user_doc # Run tests from the .md documentation
 test_user_doc: install_rs_build_toolchain
 	RUSTFLAGS="$(RUSTFLAGS)" cargo $(CARGO_RS_BUILD_TOOLCHAIN) test --profile $(CARGO_PROFILE) --doc \
-		--features=boolean,shortint,integer,internal-keycache,pbs-stats,zk-pok \
+		--features=boolean,shortint,integer,internal-keycache,pbs-stats,zk-pok,strings \
 		-p $(TFHE_SPEC) \
 		-- test_user_docs::
 

tfhe/docs/SUMMARY.md

@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@
 * [Trivial ciphertexts](guides/trivial\_ciphertext.md)
 * [PBS statistics](guides/pbs-stats.md)
 * [Array](guides/array.md)
+* [Strings](guides/strings.md)
 
 ## Tutorials
 

tfhe/docs/guides/strings.md

@@ -0,0 +1,97 @@
+# Strings
+
+This document explains the FheAsciiString type for handling encrypted strings in TFHE-rs.
+
+TFHE-rs has supports for ASCII strings with the type FheAsciiString.
+You can enable this feature using the flag: --features=strings
+
+{% hint style="warning" %}
+Strings are not yet compatible with `CompactCiphertextList` and `CompressedCiphertextList`
+{% endhint %}
+
+## Supported Operations
+
+A variety of common operations are supported for `FheAsciiString`. These include:
+
+- **Comparisons**: `eq`, `ne`, `lt`, `le`, `gt`, `ge`, `eq_ignore_case`
+- **Case conversion**: `to_lowercase` / `to_uppercase`
+- **String checks**: `starts_with` / `ends_with` / `contains`
+- **Trimming**: `trim_start` / `trim_end` / `trim`
+- **Prefix/suffix operations**: `strip_prefix` / `strip_suffix`
+- **Search**:  `find` / `rfind`
+
+
+When encrypting strings, you can add padding to hide the actual length of strings. 
+The null character (b'\0') is used as the padding.
+Here is an example:
+
+```toml
+# Cargo.toml
+
+[dependencies]
+tfhe = { version = "0.11.0", features = ["integer", "strings"] }
+```
+
+```rust
+use tfhe::{ConfigBuilder, generate_keys, set_server_key, FheAsciiString, FheStringLen, ClearString};
+use tfhe::prelude::*;
+use tfhe::safe_serialization::safe_serialize;
+
+
+fn main() {
+    let config = ConfigBuilder::default().build();
+    let (cks, sks) = generate_keys(config);
+
+    set_server_key(sks);
+
+    let r = FheAsciiString::try_encrypt("café is french for coffee", &cks);
+    // As the input string is not strictly ASCII, it is not compatible
+    assert!(r.is_err());
+
+    let string = FheAsciiString::try_encrypt("tfhe-rs", &cks).unwrap();
+    // This adds 3 chars of padding to the chars of the input string
+    let padded_string = FheAsciiString::try_encrypt_with_padding("tfhe-rs", 3, &cks).unwrap();
+    // This makes it so the string has 10 chars (adds padding or truncates input as necessary)
+    let other_string = FheAsciiString::try_encrypt_with_fixed_sized("tfhe", 10, &cks).unwrap();
+
+    let mut buffer1 = vec![];
+    safe_serialize(&padded_string, &mut buffer1, 1 << 30).unwrap();
+    let mut buffer2 = vec![];
+    safe_serialize(&other_string, &mut buffer2, 1 << 30).unwrap();
+    // The two strings created with padding, have the same
+    // memory/disk footprint, even though the lengths are not the same
+    assert_eq!(buffer1.len(), buffer2.len());
+
+    // When a string has no padding, its length is known in clear
+    let len = string.len();
+    assert!(matches!(len, FheStringLen::NoPadding(7)));
+    // When a string has padding, its length is only known as an encrypted value
+    let FheStringLen::Padding(encrypted_len) = padded_string.len() else {
+        panic!("Expected len to be encrypted");
+    };
+    let padded_string_len: u16 = encrypted_len.decrypt(&cks);
+    assert_eq!(padded_string_len, 7); // Note padding chars are not counted
+    // The enum resulting of a len() / is_empty() call can be transformed 
+    // to a FheUint16 using `into_ciphertext`
+    assert!(string.len().into_ciphertext().is_trivial());
+    assert!(!padded_string.len().into_ciphertext().is_trivial());
+    let other_string_len: u16 = other_string.len().into_ciphertext().decrypt(&cks);
+    assert_eq!(other_string_len, 4);
+
+    // Padded and un-padded strings are equal if the content is
+    assert!(padded_string.eq(&string).decrypt(&cks));
+
+    let prefix = ClearString::new("tfhe".to_string());
+    let (stripped_string, has_been_stripped) = string.strip_prefix(&prefix);
+    // Notice that stripping, makes the string as being considered as padded
+    // as it is not possible to homomorphically remove chars
+    let FheStringLen::Padding(encrypted_len) = stripped_string.len() else {
+        panic!("Expected len to be encrypted");
+    };
+    let stripped_string_len: u16 = encrypted_len.decrypt(&cks);
+    assert_eq!(stripped_string_len, 3);
+    let decrypted = stripped_string.decrypt(&cks);
+    assert_eq!(decrypted, "-rs");
+    assert!(has_been_stripped.decrypt(&cks));
+}
+```

tfhe/src/test_user_docs.rs

@@ -57,6 +57,7 @@ mod test_cpu_doc {
     doctest!("../docs/guides/pbs-stats.md", guides_pbs_stats);
     doctest!("../docs/guides/public_key.md", guides_public_key);
     doctest!("../docs/guides/rayon_crate.md", guides_rayon_crate);
+    doctest!("../docs/guides/strings.md", guides_strings);
     doctest!("../docs/guides/trait_bounds.md", guides_trait_bounds);
     doctest!(
         "../docs/guides/trivial_ciphertext.md",