# Cutting off a Character from a String

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/cutting-off-a-character-from-a-string/126855>\
**Category:** Rails\
**Created:** [January 22, 2008, 8:58pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/cutting-off-a-character-from-a-string/126855 "2008-01-22T20:58:12Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![sithadmin](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/858c86/32.png) [@sithadmin](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/sithadmin)\
**Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 8:58pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/cutting-off-a-character-from-a-string/126855/1 "2008-01-22T20:58:12Z")

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Hello,  
I just have a small question - how can I cut off the leading character  
of a string? For example, in my case, I have a list of telephone numbers  
with a 1 at the beginning… I need to say that if the string is 11  
characters long, delete the first character. How can I do this? I am  
very new to RoR and the RDOC is kinda confusing…

Thanks in advance,

- Jeff M.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![sithadmin](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/858c86/32.png) [@sithadmin](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/sithadmin)\
**Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 9:13pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/cutting-off-a-character-from-a-string/126855/2 "2008-01-22T21:13:50Z")

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if string.size == 11  
string=string[1…11]  
end

On Jan 22, 1:58 pm, Jeff M. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![sithadmin](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/858c86/32.png) [@sithadmin](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/sithadmin)\
**Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 9:19pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/cutting-off-a-character-from-a-string/126855/3 "2008-01-22T21:19:40Z")

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or even better…

string=string[1…11] if string.size==11

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![sithadmin](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/858c86/32.png) [@sithadmin](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/sithadmin)\
**Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 9:24pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/cutting-off-a-character-from-a-string/126855/4 "2008-01-22T21:24:57Z")

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[http://www.noobkit.com/show/ruby/ruby/ruby-core/string](http://www.noobkit.com/show/ruby/ruby/ruby-core/string)

This is where i get all my string info… great site…

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![sithadmin](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/s/858c86/32.png) [@sithadmin](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/sithadmin)\
**Post date:** [January 22, 2008, 9:49pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/cutting-off-a-character-from-a-string/126855/5 "2008-01-22T21:49:31Z")

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Thanks everyone!