diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index fabd559..f3173ac 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -13,3 +13,8 @@ Current modules included:
 * std.dateparse
 * std.regexp
 * std.stream and friends
+
+Some individual functions have been moved here rather than full Phobos modules. They are
+
+* undead.doformat: Contains the `doFormat` function from std.format
+* undead.string: Contains regex style pattern matching functions from std.string
diff --git a/posix.mak b/posix.mak
index 05f0b35..b7f23e5 100644
--- a/posix.mak
+++ b/posix.mak
@@ -20,7 +20,8 @@ LFLAGS=-L/map/co
 	$(DMD) -c $(DFLAGS) $*
 
 SRC= $S/bitarray.d $S/regexp.d $S/datebase.d $S/date.d $S/dateparse.d \
-	 $S/cstream.d $S/stream.d $S/socketstream.d $S/doformat.d
+	 $S/cstream.d $S/stream.d $S/socketstream.d $S/doformat.d $S/string.d \
+	 $S/internal/file.d
 
 
 SOURCE= $(SRC) win32.mak posix.mak LICENSE README.md dub.json
diff --git a/src/undead/string.d b/src/undead/string.d
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..17280f1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/undead/string.d
@@ -0,0 +1,295 @@
+/**
+ * Contains the obsolete pattern matching functions from Phobos'
+ * `std.string`.
+ */
+module undead.string;
+
+import std.traits;
+
+/***********************************************
+ * See if character c is in the pattern.
+ * Patterns:
+ *
+ *  A $(I pattern) is an array of characters much like a $(I character
+ *  class) in regular expressions. A sequence of characters
+ *  can be given, such as "abcde". The '-' can represent a range
+ *  of characters, as "a-e" represents the same pattern as "abcde".
+ *  "a-fA-F0-9" represents all the hex characters.
+ *  If the first character of a pattern is '^', then the pattern
+ *  is negated, i.e. "^0-9" means any character except a digit.
+ *  The functions inPattern, $(B countchars), $(B removeschars),
+ *  and $(B squeeze) use patterns.
+ *
+ * Note: In the future, the pattern syntax may be improved
+ *  to be more like regular expression character classes.
+ */
+bool inPattern(S)(dchar c, in S pattern) @safe pure @nogc
+if (isSomeString!S)
+{
+    bool result = false;
+    int range = 0;
+    dchar lastc;
+
+    foreach (size_t i, dchar p; pattern)
+    {
+        if (p == '^' && i == 0)
+        {
+            result = true;
+            if (i + 1 == pattern.length)
+                return (c == p);    // or should this be an error?
+        }
+        else if (range)
+        {
+            range = 0;
+            if (lastc <= c && c <= p || c == p)
+                return !result;
+        }
+        else if (p == '-' && i > result && i + 1 < pattern.length)
+        {
+            range = 1;
+            continue;
+        }
+        else if (c == p)
+            return !result;
+        lastc = p;
+    }
+    return result;
+}
+
+
+@safe pure @nogc unittest
+{
+    assertCTFEable!(
+    {
+    assert(inPattern('x', "x") == 1);
+    assert(inPattern('x', "y") == 0);
+    assert(inPattern('x', string.init) == 0);
+    assert(inPattern('x', "^y") == 1);
+    assert(inPattern('x', "yxxy") == 1);
+    assert(inPattern('x', "^yxxy") == 0);
+    assert(inPattern('x', "^abcd") == 1);
+    assert(inPattern('^', "^^") == 0);
+    assert(inPattern('^', "^") == 1);
+    assert(inPattern('^', "a^") == 1);
+    assert(inPattern('x', "a-z") == 1);
+    assert(inPattern('x', "A-Z") == 0);
+    assert(inPattern('x', "^a-z") == 0);
+    assert(inPattern('x', "^A-Z") == 1);
+    assert(inPattern('-', "a-") == 1);
+    assert(inPattern('-', "^A-") == 0);
+    assert(inPattern('a', "z-a") == 1);
+    assert(inPattern('z', "z-a") == 1);
+    assert(inPattern('x', "z-a") == 0);
+    });
+}
+
+
+/**
+ * See if character c is in the intersection of the patterns.
+ */
+bool inPattern(S)(dchar c, S[] patterns) @safe pure @nogc
+if (isSomeString!S)
+{
+    foreach (string pattern; patterns)
+    {
+        if (!inPattern(c, pattern))
+        {
+            return false;
+        }
+    }
+    return true;
+}
+
+
+/**
+ * Count characters in s that match pattern.
+ */
+size_t countchars(S, S1)(S s, in S1 pattern) @safe pure @nogc
+if (isSomeString!S && isSomeString!S1)
+{
+    size_t count;
+    foreach (dchar c; s)
+    {
+        count += inPattern(c, pattern);
+    }
+    return count;
+}
+
+@safe pure @nogc unittest
+{
+    assertCTFEable!(
+    {
+    assert(countchars("abc", "a-c") == 3);
+    assert(countchars("hello world", "or") == 3);
+    });
+}
+
+
+/**
+ * Return string that is s with all characters removed that match pattern.
+ */
+S removechars(S)(S s, in S pattern) @safe pure
+if (isSomeString!S)
+{
+    import std.utf : encode;
+
+    Unqual!(typeof(s[0]))[] r;
+    bool changed = false;
+
+    foreach (size_t i, dchar c; s)
+    {
+        if (inPattern(c, pattern))
+        {
+            if (!changed)
+            {
+                changed = true;
+                r = s[0 .. i].dup;
+            }
+            continue;
+        }
+        if (changed)
+        {
+            encode(r, c);
+        }
+    }
+    if (changed)
+        return r;
+    else
+        return s;
+}
+
+@safe pure unittest
+{
+    assertCTFEable!(
+    {
+    assert(removechars("abc", "a-c").length == 0);
+    assert(removechars("hello world", "or") == "hell wld");
+    assert(removechars("hello world", "d") == "hello worl");
+    assert(removechars("hah", "h") == "a");
+    });
+}
+
+@safe pure unittest
+{
+    assert(removechars("abc", "x") == "abc");
+}
+
+
+/***************************************************
+ * Return string where sequences of a character in s[] from pattern[]
+ * are replaced with a single instance of that character.
+ * If pattern is null, it defaults to all characters.
+ */
+S squeeze(S)(S s, in S pattern = null)
+{
+    import std.utf : encode, stride;
+
+    Unqual!(typeof(s[0]))[] r;
+    dchar lastc;
+    size_t lasti;
+    int run;
+    bool changed;
+
+    foreach (size_t i, dchar c; s)
+    {
+        if (run && lastc == c)
+        {
+            changed = true;
+        }
+        else if (pattern is null || inPattern(c, pattern))
+        {
+            run = 1;
+            if (changed)
+            {
+                if (r is null)
+                    r = s[0 .. lasti].dup;
+                encode(r, c);
+            }
+            else
+                lasti = i + stride(s, i);
+            lastc = c;
+        }
+        else
+        {
+            run = 0;
+            if (changed)
+            {
+                if (r is null)
+                    r = s[0 .. lasti].dup;
+                encode(r, c);
+            }
+        }
+    }
+    return changed ? ((r is null) ? s[0 .. lasti] : cast(S) r) : s;
+}
+
+@system pure unittest
+{
+    assertCTFEable!(
+    {
+    string s;
+
+    assert(squeeze("hello") == "helo");
+
+    s = "abcd";
+    assert(squeeze(s) is s);
+    s = "xyzz";
+    assert(squeeze(s).ptr == s.ptr); // should just be a slice
+
+    assert(squeeze("hello goodbyee", "oe") == "hello godbye");
+    });
+}
+
+/***************************************************************
+ Finds the position $(D_PARAM pos) of the first character in $(D_PARAM
+ s) that does not match $(D_PARAM pattern) (in the terminology used by
+ $(REF inPattern, std,string)). Updates $(D_PARAM s =
+ s[pos..$]). Returns the slice from the beginning of the original
+ (before update) string up to, and excluding, $(D_PARAM pos).
+
+The $(D_PARAM munch) function is mostly convenient for skipping
+certain category of characters (e.g. whitespace) when parsing
+strings. (In such cases, the return value is not used.)
+ */
+S1 munch(S1, S2)(ref S1 s, S2 pattern) @safe pure @nogc
+{
+    size_t j = s.length;
+    foreach (i, dchar c; s)
+    {
+        if (!inPattern(c, pattern))
+        {
+            j = i;
+            break;
+        }
+    }
+    scope(exit) s = s[j .. $];
+    return s[0 .. j];
+}
+
+///
+@safe pure @nogc unittest
+{
+    string s = "123abc";
+    string t = munch(s, "0123456789");
+    assert(t == "123" && s == "abc");
+    t = munch(s, "0123456789");
+    assert(t == "" && s == "abc");
+}
+
+@safe pure @nogc unittest
+{
+    string s = "123€abc";
+    string t = munch(s, "0123456789");
+    assert(t == "123" && s == "€abc");
+    t = munch(s, "0123456789");
+    assert(t == "" && s == "€abc");
+    t = munch(s, "£$€¥");
+    assert(t == "€" && s == "abc");
+}
+
+// helper function for unit tests
+private @property void assertCTFEable(alias dg)()
+{
+    static assert({ cast(void) dg(); return true; }());
+    cast(void) dg();
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/win32.mak b/win32.mak
index f4db3d3..cd55b5f 100644
--- a/win32.mak
+++ b/win32.mak
@@ -20,7 +20,8 @@ LFLAGS=-L/map/co
 	$(DMD) -c $(DFLAGS) $*
 
 SRC= $S\bitarray.d $S\regexp.d $S\datebase.d $S\date.d $S\dateparse.d \
-	 $S\cstream.d $S\stream.d $S\socketstream.d $S\doformat.d $S\internal\file.d
+	 $S\cstream.d $S\stream.d $S\socketstream.d $S\doformat.d $S/string.d \
+	 $S\internal\file.d
 
 SOURCE= $(SRC) win32.mak win64.mak posix.mak LICENSE README.md dub.json
 
diff --git a/win64.mak b/win64.mak
index 609b2bf..45a1045 100644
--- a/win64.mak
+++ b/win64.mak
@@ -20,7 +20,8 @@ LFLAGS=-L/map/co
 	$(DMD) -c $(DFLAGS) $*
 
 SRC= $S\bitarray.d $S\regexp.d $S\datebase.d $S\date.d $S\dateparse.d \
-	 $S\cstream.d $S\stream.d $S\socketstream.d $S\doformat.d $S\internal\file.d
+	 $S\cstream.d $S\stream.d $S\socketstream.d $S\doformat.d $S/string.d \
+	 $S\internal\file.d
 
 SOURCE= $(SRC) win32.mak win64.mak posix.mak LICENSE README.md dub.json