Java - 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 Java.

Quick solution: 

String text = "1234";
int n = 3;
String firstCharacters = text.substring(0, n);

System.out.println( firstCharacters );  // 123

Practical example

The below example shows how to use substring() method to get the first n characters from the text string.

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) {

        System.out.println( getFirstCharacters( "1234", 3) );  // 123
        System.out.println( getFirstCharacters( "1234", 2) );  // 12
        System.out.println( getFirstCharacters(   "12", 1) );  // 1
        System.out.println( getFirstCharacters(    "1", 3) );  // 1
        System.out.println( getFirstCharacters(     "", 3) );  //
    }
}

Output: 

123
12
1
1