C# / .NET - get first n characters from string

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

Quick solution: 

string text = "1234";
int n = 3;
string firstCharacters = text.Substring(0, n);

Console.WriteLine(firstCharacters);  // 123

Practical example

The below example shows how to use Substring() method to get the first n characters 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", 3) );  // 123
        Console.WriteLine( getFirstCharacters( "1234", 2) );  // 12
        Console.WriteLine( getFirstCharacters(   "12", 1) );  // 1
        Console.WriteLine( getFirstCharacters(    "1", 3) );  // 1
        Console.WriteLine( getFirstCharacters(     "", 3) );  //
    }
}

Output: 

123
12
1
1