{{task}}[[Category:String manipulation]] The task is to demonstrate how to remove the first and last characters from a string.

The solution should demonstrate how to obtain the following results:

• String with first character removed
• String with last character removed
• String with both the first and last characters removed

If the program uses UTF-8 or UTF-16, it must work on any valid Unicode code point, whether in the Basic Multilingual Plane or above it.

The program must reference logical characters (code points), not 8-bit code units for UTF-8 or 16-bit code units for UTF-16.

Programs for other encodings (such as 8-bit ASCII, or EUC-JP) are not required to handle all Unicode characters.

360 Assembly

*        Substring/Top and tail    04/03/2017
SUBSTRTT CSECT
         USING  SUBSTRTT,R13       base register
         B      72(R15)            skip savearea
         DC     17F'0'             savearea
         STM    R14,R12,12(R13)    save previous context
         ST     R13,4(R15)         link backward
         ST     R15,8(R13)         link forward
         LR     R13,R15            set addressability
*
         XPRNT  S8,L'S8            print s8
         MVC    S7,S8+1            s7=substr(s8,2,7)
         XPRNT  S7,L'S7            print s7
         MVC    S7,S8              s7=substr(s8,1,7)
         XPRNT  S7,L'S7            print s7
         MVC    S6,S8+1            s6=substr(s8,2,6)
         XPRNT  S6,L'S6            print s6
*
         L      R13,4(0,R13)       epilog
         LM     R14,R12,12(R13)    restore previous context
         XR     R15,R15            rc=0
         BR     R14                exit
S8       DC     CL8'12345678'
S7       DS     CL7
S6       DS     CL6
         YREGS
         END    SUBSTRTT

{{out}}

12345678
2345678
1234567
234567

ACL2

(defun str-rest (str)
   (coerce (rest (coerce str 'list)) 'string))

(defun rdc (xs)
   (if (endp (rest xs))
       nil
       (cons (first xs)
             (rdc (rest xs)))))

(defun str-rdc (str)
   (coerce (rdc (coerce str 'list)) 'string))

(str-rdc "string")
(str-rest "string")
(str-rest (str-rdc "string"))

Ada

with Ada.Text_IO;

procedure Remove_Characters is
   S: String := "upraisers";
   use Ada.Text_IO;
begin
   Put_Line("Full String:   """ & S & """");
   Put_Line("Without_First: """ & S(S'First+1 .. S'Last) & """");
   Put_Line("Without_Last:  """ & S(S'First   .. S'Last-1) & """");
   Put_Line("Without_Both:  """ & S(S'First+1 .. S'Last-1) & """");
end Remove_Characters;

Output:

Full String:   "upraisers"
Without_First: "praisers"
Without_Last:  "upraiser"
Without_Both:  "praiser"

With UTF8 support in Ada 2012 (Wide_Character of literals is automatic):

with Ada.Text_IO;
with Ada.Strings.UTF_Encoding.Wide_Strings;

procedure Remove_Characters
is
   use Ada.Text_IO;
   use Ada.Strings.UTF_Encoding;
   use Ada.Strings.UTF_Encoding.Wide_Strings;

   S : String := "upraisers";
   U : Wide_String := Decode (UTF_8_String'(S));

   function To_String (X : Wide_String)return String
   is
   begin
      return String (UTF_8_String'(Encode (X)));
   end To_String;

begin
   Put_Line
     (To_String
        ("Full String:   """ & U & """"));
   Put_Line
     (To_String
        ("Without_First: """ & U (U'First + 1 .. U'Last) & """"));
   Put_Line
     (To_String
        ("Without_Last:  """ & U (U'First   .. U'Last - 1) & """"));
   Put_Line
     (To_String
        ("Without_Both:  """ & U (U'First + 1 .. U'Last - 1) & """"));

end Remove_Characters;

Output:

Full String:   "upraisers"
Without_First: "praisers"
Without_Last:  "upraiser"
Without_Both:  "praiser"

Aime

o_text(delete("knights", 0));
o_newline();
o_text(delete("knights", -1));
o_newline();
o_text(delete(delete("knights", 0), -1));
o_newline();

{{out}}

nights
knight
night

Apex

String strOrig = 'brooms';
String str1 = strOrig.substring(1, strOrig.length());
system.debug(str1);
String str2 = strOrig.substring(0, strOrig.length()-1);
system.debug(str2);
String str3 = strOrig.substring(1, strOrig.length()-1);
system.debug(str3);

// Regular Expressions approach
String strOrig = 'brooms';
String str1 = strOrig.replaceAll( '^.', '' );
system.debug(str1);
String str2 = strOrig.replaceAll( '.$', '' ) ;
system.debug(str2);
String str3 = strOrig.replaceAll( '^.|.$', '' );
system.debug(str3);

{{out}}

rooms

broom

room

ALGOL 68

{{trans|AWK}} {{works with|ALGOL 68|Revision 1 - no extensions to language used.}} {{works with|ALGOL 68G|Any - tested with release [http://sourceforge.net/projects/algol68/files/algol68g/algol68g-1.18.0/algol68g-1.18.0-9h.tiny.el5.centos.fc11.i386.rpm/download 1.18.0-9h.tiny].}} {{wont work with|ELLA ALGOL 68|Any (with appropriate job cards) - tested with release [http://sourceforge.net/projects/algol68/files/algol68toc/algol68toc-1.8.8d/algol68toc-1.8-8d.fc9.i386.rpm/download 1.8-8d] - due to extensive use of '''format'''[ted] ''transput''.}}

#!/usr/local/bin/a68g --script #

STRING str="upraisers";
printf(($gl$,
  str,                      # remove no characters #
  str[LWB str+1:         ], # remove the first character #
  str[         :UPB str-1], # remove the last character #
  str[LWB str+1:UPB str-1], # remove both the first and last character #
  str[LWB str+2:         ], # remove the first 2 characters #
  str[         :UPB str-2], # remove the last 2 characters #
  str[LWB str+1:UPB str-2], # remove 1 before and 2 after #
  str[LWB str+2:UPB str-1], # remove 2 before and one after #
  str[LWB str+2:UPB str-2]  # remove both the first and last 2 characters #
))

Output:

upraisers
praisers
upraiser
praiser
raisers
upraise
praise
raiser
raise

AutoHotkey

myString := "knights"
MsgBox % SubStr(MyString, 2)
MsgBox % SubStr(MyString, 1, StrLen(MyString)-1)
MsgBox % SubStr(MyString, 2, StrLen(MyString)-2)

AWK

BEGIN {
  mystring="knights"
  print substr(mystring,2)                       # remove the first letter
  print substr(mystring,1,length(mystring)-1)    # remove the last character
  print substr(mystring,2,length(mystring)-2)    # remove both the first and last character
}

BASIC

10 PRINT FN F$("KNIGHTS"): REM STRIP THE FIRST LETTER
20 PRINT FN L$("SOCKS"): REM STRIP THE LAST LETTER
30 PRINT FN B$("BROOMS"): REM STRIP BOTH THE FIRST AND LAST LETTER
100 END

9000 DEF FN F$(A$)=RIGHT$(A$,LEN(A$)-1)
9010 DEF FN L$(A$)=LEFT$(A$,LEN(A$)-1)
9020 DEF FN B$(A$)=FN L$(FN F$(A$))

==={{header|IS-BASIC}}=== 100 LET S$="Knights" 110 PRINT S$(2:) 120 PRINT S$(:LEN(S$)-1) 130 PRINT S$(2:LEN(S$)-1)

=
## Sinclair ZX81 BASIC
=
Note that strings are indexed from 1.

```basic
10 REM STRING SLICING EXAMPLE
20 LET S$="KNIGHTS"
30 REM WITH FIRST CHARACTER REMOVED:
40 PRINT S$(2 TO )
50 REM WITH LAST CHARACTER REMOVED:
60 PRINT S$( TO LEN S$-1)
70 REM WITH BOTH REMOVED:
80 PRINT S$(2 TO LEN S$-1)

{{out}}

NIGHTS
KNIGHT
NIGHT

Bracmat

Bracmat uses UTF-8 internally. The function utf fails if its argument isn't a valid UTF-8 multibyte string, but in two slightly different ways: an indefinite and a definite way. If the argument does not have the required number of bytes but otherwise seems to be ok, Bracmat's backtacking mechanism lenghtens the argument and then calls utf again. This is repeated until utf either succeeds or definitely fails. The code is far from efficient.

(substringUTF-8=
  @( Δημοτική
   : (%?a&utf$!a) ?"String with first character removed"
   )
& @( Δημοτική
   : ?"String with last character removed" (?z&utf$!z)
   )
& @( Δημοτική
   :   (%?a&utf$!a)
       ?"String with both the first and last characters removed"
       (?z&utf$!z)
   )
&   out
  $ ("String with first character removed:" !"String with first character removed")
&   out
  $ ("String with last character removed:" !"String with last character removed")
&   out
  $ ( "String with both the first and last characters removed:"
      !"String with both the first and last characters removed"
    ));

!substringUTF-8
String with first character removed: ημοτική
String with last character removed: Δημοτικ
String with both the first and last characters removed: ημοτικ

If the string is known to consist of 8-byte characters, we can use a simpler method. Essential are the % and @ prefixes. The % prefix matches 1 or more elements (bytes, in the case of string pattern matching), while @ matches 0 or 1 elements. In combination these prefixes match 1 and only 1 byte.

(substring-8-bit=
  @("8-bit string":%@ ?"String with first character removed")
& @("8-bit string":?"String with last character removed" @)
& @( "8-bit string"
   : %@ ?"String with both the first and last characters removed" @
   )
&   out
  $ ("String with first character removed:" !"String with first character removed")
&   out
  $ ("String with last character removed:" !"String with last character removed")
&   out
  $ ( "String with both the first and last characters removed:"
      !"String with both the first and last characters removed"
    ));

!substring-8-bit
String with first character removed: -bit string
String with last character removed: 8-bit strin
String with both the first and last characters removed: -bit strin

BBC BASIC

      s$ = "Rosetta Code"
      PRINT MID$(s$, 2)
      PRINT LEFT$(s$)
      PRINT LEFT$(MID$(s$, 2))

Burlesque

blsq ) "RosettaCode"[-
"osettaCode"
blsq ) "RosettaCode"-]
'R
blsq ) "RosettaCode"~]
"RosettaCod"
blsq ) "RosettaCode"[~
'e
blsq ) "RosettaCode"~-
"osettaCod"

C

#include <string.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <stdio.h>

int main( int argc, char ** argv ){
  const char * str_a = "knight";
  const char * str_b = "socks";
  const char * str_c = "brooms";

  char * new_a = malloc( strlen( str_a ) - 1 );
  char * new_b = malloc( strlen( str_b ) - 1 );
  char * new_c = malloc( strlen( str_c ) - 2 );

  strcpy( new_a, str_a + 1 );
  strncpy( new_b, str_b, strlen( str_b ) - 1 );
  strncpy( new_c, str_c + 1, strlen( str_c ) - 2 );

  printf( "%s\n%s\n%s\n", new_a, new_b, new_c );

  free( new_a );
  free( new_b );
  free( new_c );

  return 0;
}

Result:

night
sock
room

ANSI C provides little functionality for text manipulation outside of string.h. While a number of libraries for this purpose have been written, this example uses only ANSI C.

C++

#include <string>
#include <iostream>

int main( ) {
   std::string word( "Premier League" ) ;
   std::cout << "Without first letter: " << word.substr( 1 ) << " !\n" ;
   std::cout << "Without last letter: " << word.substr( 0 , word.length( ) - 1 ) << " !\n" ;
   std::cout << "Without first and last letter: " << word.substr( 1 , word.length( ) - 2 ) << " !\n" ;
   return 0 ;
}

Output:

Without first letter: remier League !
Without last letter: Premier Leagu !
Without first and last letter: remier Leagu !