How to Find the First and Last Character of a String in JavaScript ?

In this article, we are going to learn about finding the first and last character of a string in JavaScript. The first character of a string is its initial symbol, while the last character is the final symbol at the end of the string.

Strings are sequences of characters. Here we have some common methods to find the first and last character of a string by using JavaScript.

Example:

Input: GeeksforGeeks;
Output: first character : G , Last character : s

There are several methods that can be used to find the first and last character of a string in JavaScript, which are listed below:

• Using charAt() Method
• Using Bracket Notation
• Using Substring() Method
• Using String.slice() Method

We will explore all the above methods along with their basic implementation with the help of examples.

Approach 1: Using charAt() Method

In this approach, we are using the charAt() method, to access the first and last characters of a string by specifying indices 0 and length – 1, respectively.

Syntax:

character = str.charAt(index)

Example: In this example, we are using the above-explained approach.

Javascript

let str = "GeeksforGeeks";
let firstChar = str.charAt(0);
let lastChar = str.charAt(str.length - 1);

console.log("First character:", firstChar);
console.log("Last character:", lastChar);

Output

First character: G
Last character: s

Approach 2: Using Bracket Notation

In this approach we are using bracket notation like str[0] accesses the first character and str[str.length – 1] accesses the last character of a string.

Syntax:

objectname['propertyname']; // Bracket notation

Example: In this example we are using the above-explained approach.

Javascript

let str = "JavaScript";
let firstChar = str[0];
let lastChar = str[str.length - 1];

console.log("First character:", firstChar);
console.log("Last character:", lastChar);

Output

First character: J
Last character: t

Approach 3: Using Substring() Method

Using substring() extracts characters from start to end indices. For first character, use str.substring(0, 1), for last character, use str.substring(str.length – 1).

Syntax:

string.substring(Startindex, Endindex)

Example: In this example we are using the above-explained method.

Javascript

let str = "GeeksforGeeks";
let firstChar = str.substring(0, 1);
let lastChar = str.substring(str.length - 1);

console.log("First character:", firstChar);
console.log("Last character:", lastChar);

Output

First character: G
Last character: s

Approach 4: Using String.slice() Method

In this approach we are using slice() method on a string extracts characters. For first character, use str.slice(0, 1), for last character, use str.slice(-1).

Syntax:

string.slice(startingIndex, endingIndex)

Example: In this example we are using above-explained method.

Javascript

let str = "Geeks";
let firstChar = str.slice(0, 1);
let lastChar = str.slice(-1);

console.log("First character:", firstChar);
console.log("Last character:", lastChar);

Output

First character: G
Last character: s