A string function I've found invaluable for parsing DSLs

[downs]

Slightly modified from what you so amusingly called "my CoolTools.ctfe":

ctSlice (not to be confused with the [] array slicing functionality) "slices" a string in two at a marker, returning the text before the marker and removing it (and the marker) from the input text.

The ct prefix is handy for differentiating between std.metastrings and std.string functions - one may often want to import both ..

string ctSlice(ref string what, string where) {
  auto loc = what.ctFind(where);
  if (loc == -1) {
    auto res = what;
    what = null;
    return res;
  }
  auto res = what[0 .. loc];
  what = what[loc+where.length .. $];
  return res;
}

When is this useful?

For instance, when writing a compile-time enum, you may want to use a syntax of the form "EnumName: Entries"

In that case, you could write `string name = input.ctSlice(":"); '