JavaScript - remove last 2 characters from string

In this article, we're going to have a look at how to remove the last 2 characters from the string in JavaScript.

1. String slice() method example

This approach allows getting substring by using negative indexes. So by using 0 and -2 indexes as the range we get <0, text.length - 2> text range. 

// ONLINE-RUNNER:browser;

var text = 'abcde';
var substring = text.slice(0, -2);

console.log(substring); // abc

2. String substring() method example

This is an alternative approach to slice method based solution.

// ONLINE-RUNNER:browser;

var text = 'abcde';
var substring = text.substring(0, text.length - 2);

console.log(substring); // abc

3. String replace() method example

There is another trick that allows replacing all characters that match expression conditions. By using .{0,2}$ pattern we match any 2 characters (up to 2 characters) that are located at the end of the string.

// ONLINE-RUNNER:browser;

var text = 'abcde';
var substring = text.replace(/.{0,2}$/, '');

console.log(substring); // abc