substr

• Retrieving part of a string by a specified position is done in Ruby using String#[] or it’s synonym method String#slice.

  Return the first five characters of a string:

  PHP

  print substr("hello world", 0, 5);
  // hello

  Ruby

  puts "hello world".slice(0, 5)
  puts "hello world"[0, 5]
  # hello

  Return all characters after a specified position. In Ruby we can use Ranges to specify a range of character positions:

  PHP

  print substr("hello world", 3);
  // lo world

  Ruby

  puts "hello world".slice(3..-1)
  puts "hello world"[3..-1]
  # lo world

  Return the last five characters in the string:

  PHP

  print substr("hello world", -5);
  // world

  Ruby

  puts "hello world"[-5, 5]
  puts "hello world".slice(-5, 5)
  # world

  see also

  • substr_replace
  • preg_match
  • trim
  • wordwrap
  • strrchr
  • mb_substr

Looking for Rails or PHP web application development, integration, and training?

Rails for PHP is brought to you by Maintainable Software. Get custom web applications and personalized training from the authors of the book and website.