> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://trizen.gitbook.io/perl6-rosettacode/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://trizen.gitbook.io/perl6-rosettacode/programming_tasks/s/substring/top_and_tail.md).

# Top and tail

Raku provides both functional and method forms of substr. Note that, unlike in Perl 5, offsets from the end do not use negative numbers, but instead require a function expressing the negative offset relative to the length parameter, which is supplied by the operator. The form `*-1` is just a simple way to write such a function.

We use musical sharps and flats to illustrate that Raku is comfortable with characters from any Unicode plane.

```perl
my $s = '𝄪♯♮♭𝄫';

print qq:to/END/;
    Original:
    $s

    Remove first character:
    { substr($s, 1) }
    { $s.substr(1) }

    Remove last character:
    { substr($s, 0, *-1) }
    { $s.substr( 0, *-1) }
    { $s.chop }

    Remove first and last characters:
    { substr($s, 1, *-1) }
    { $s.substr(1, *-1) }
    END
```

#### Output:

```
Original:
𝄪♯♮♭𝄫

Remove first character:
♯♮♭𝄫
♯♮♭𝄫
 
Remove last character:
𝄪♯♮♭
𝄪♯♮♭
𝄪♯♮♭
 
Remove first and last characters:
♯♮♭
♯♮♭
```