# First letter of UTF-8 string?

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/first-letter-of-utf-8-string/47571>\
**Category:** Rails\
**Created:** [November 12, 2005, 12:49pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/first-letter-of-utf-8-string/47571 "2005-11-12T12:49:30Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![ianic](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/i/65b543/32.png) [@ianic](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/ianic)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2005, 12:49pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/first-letter-of-utf-8-string/47571/1 "2005-11-12T12:49:30Z")

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How to get first letter of UTF-8 string?

I try with :  
item.name.slice(0…0) – works ok when first letter is regular ascii  
character, don’t works for local Croatian characters: “©ÐÈÆ®¹ðèæ¾”

item.name.slice(0…1) – this works ok for items starting with Croatian  
character but returns two letters for other items

Is there slice version (or something like that) which works with  
characters not bytes.

Thanks,  
Igor.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ianic](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/i/65b543/32.png) [@ianic](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/ianic)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2005, 12:49pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/first-letter-of-utf-8-string/47571/2 "2005-11-12T12:49:30Z")

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Hi !

2005/11/9, Igor A. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid):

> Is there slice version (or something like that) which works with  
> characters not bytes.

Unfortunately, Ruby String objects always work with bytes, not  
characters. You will have to look into the Unicode Gem.  
Unfortunately, it requires some kind of local extension to be  
installed. I have never worked with it myself.

Bye,  
François

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ianic](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/i/65b543/32.png) [@ianic](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/ianic)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2005, 12:49pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/first-letter-of-utf-8-string/47571/3 "2005-11-12T12:49:30Z")

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Igor A. wrote:

> How to get first letter of UTF-8 string?

$KCODE = ‘u’  
string.match(/^./).to\_s