Selecting Strings

The functions [slice| ] and [substr| ] look similar but are actually fairly different. slice specifies a start and a stop, while substr specifies a start and a length.

[slice| abcdefg, 2, 4]

returns “bc”

[substr| abcdefg, 2, 4]

returns “bcde”

They can both start counting from 0

[slice| abcdefg, 02, 04]

returns “cd”

[substr| abcdefg, 02, 4]

returns “cdef”

Only slice can use negative numbers

[slice| abcdefg, -4, -2]

returns “de”

[substr| abcdefg, -4, 4]

returns an error

slice can also be used without an end, which can be handy for grabbing all but the first character in a string.

[slice| abcdefg, 2]

returns “bcdefg”

You can mix positive and negative arguments to slice

[slice| abcdefg, 2, -1]

returns “bcdef”

If the start is further into the string than the end, an empty string will be returned.

[slice| abcdefg, -1, 1]

returns “”

To summarize, use substr if you know how long of a sting to get and slice for everything else.