method

first

v6.0.0 - Show latest stable - 0 notes - Class: String

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What's this?

first(limit = 1) public

Returns the first character. If a limit is supplied, returns a substring from the beginning of the string until it reaches the limit value. If the given limit is greater than or equal to the string length, returns a copy of self.

str = "hello"
str.first    # => "h"
str.first(1) # => "h"
str.first(2) # => "he"
str.first(0) # => ""
str.first(6) # => "hello"

Show source

# File activesupport/lib/active_support/core_ext/string/access.rb, line 77
  def first(limit = 1)
    ActiveSupport::Deprecation.warn(
      "Calling String#first with a negative integer limit "        "will raise an ArgumentError in Rails 6.1."
    ) if limit < 0
    if limit == 0
      ""
    elsif limit >= size
      dup
    else
      to(limit - 1)
    end
  end

first

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