# How to get the first character of a string in JavaScript

By Atta Ur Rehman Shah (https://attacomsian.com/about). Published Oct 23, 2022, updated Oct 25, 2022. Topics: JavaScript.
Canonical URL: https://attacomsian.com/blog/javascript-get-first-character-of-string

> Learn about multiple ways to get the first character of a string in JavaScript.

There are multiple ways to get the first character of a string in JavaScript. You can use the `charAt()`, `substring()`, `slice()`, `at()`, or bracket notation property access to get the first character in a string.

## Get the first character of a string using `charAt()` method

To get the first character of a string, you can call the `charAt()` method on the string, passing it `0` as the index of the character. This method returns a new string containing the character at the specified index.

```javascript
const str = 'Protips'

const firstChar = str.charAt(0)
console.log(firstChar) // P
```

The `charAt()` method returns the character of a string at the specified index.

If you provide an index that does not exist in the string, the `charAt()` method returns an empty string:

```javascript
const str = 'Protips'

const firstChar = str.charAt(9)
console.log(firstChar) // ""
```

> String indexes are zero-based in JavaScript. The first character has an index of `0`, and the last has an index of `str.length - 1`.

## Get the first character of a string using bracket notation

You can also use the bracket notation (`[]`) to get the first character of a string:

```javascript
const str = 'Protips'

const firstChar = str[0]
console.log(firstChar) // P
```

Unlike `charAt()`, the bracket notation returns `undefined` if the given index does not exist, as shown below:

```javascript
const str = 'Protips'

const firstChar = str[9]
console.log(firstChar) // undefined
```

## Get the first character of a string using `substring()` method

To get the first character of the string, call the `substring()` on the string, and pass `0` and `1` as start and end indexes:

```javascript
const str = 'Protips'

const firstChar = str.substring(0, 1)
console.log(firstChar) // P
```

The `substring()` method extracts characters between the start and end indexes from a string and returns the substring. The substring between the indexes `0` and `1` is a substring containing only the first string character.


## Get the first character of a string using `slice()` method

To get the first character of the string, call the `slice()` method on the string, passing `0` and `1` as start and end indexes:

```javascript
const str = 'Protips'

const firstChar = str.slice(0, 1)
console.log(firstChar) // P
```

The `slice()` method extracts a part of a string between the start and end indexes, specified as first and second parameters. It returns the extracted part as a new string and does not change the original string. 

## Get the first character of a string using `at()` method

The `at()` method takes an integer as input and returns the character of a string at the specified index. To get the first character of the string, call the `at()` method on the string with a `0` index:

```javascript
const str = 'Protips'

const firstChar = str.at(0)
console.log(firstChar) // P
```

The `at()` method returns `undefined` if the index does not exist:

```javascript
console.log(str.at(9))  // undefined
```

The `at()` method is a new addition to JavaScript and only works in modern browsers.