The package defines a typeclass that can be implemented to provide a uniform interface for String-like objects. The typeclass itself has default implementations that convert the StringLike item first to a lazy Text, then performs the operation, and converts results back to its StringLike object. This is usually not as efficient as an operation for that specific type. Therefore it is advisable to implement the other functions as well. One can however decide to only implement fromText and toText; or toString.