C# / .NET - get first character from string

In this article, we would like to show you how to get the first character from a string in C# / .NET.

Quick solution: 

string text = "1234";
string firstCharacters = text.Substring(0, 1);

Console.WriteLine(firstCharacters);  // 1

Practical example

The below example shows how to use Substring() method to get the first character from the text string.

using System;

public class StringUtils
{
    public static string getFirstCharacters(string text, int charactersCount)
    {
        int offset = Math.Min(charactersCount, text.Length);
        return text.Substring(0, offset);
    }

    public static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        Console.WriteLine(getFirstCharacters("1234", 1));  // 1
        Console.WriteLine(getFirstCharacters( "123", 1));  // 1
        Console.WriteLine(getFirstCharacters(  "12", 1));  // 1
        Console.WriteLine(getFirstCharacters(   "1", 1));  // 1
        Console.WriteLine(getFirstCharacters(    "", 1));  //
    }
}

Output: 

1
1
1
1