I often find myself searching for a, say, left() or mid() function when coding bash. Somehow my subconscious mind seems to know I’m doing too much in bash and therefore tends to forget things like a simple left() in bash. So I note them here. Lets hope I don’t forget where I wrote that down…

len() in bash

$ var='Hello, World!'
$ echo "${#var}"
13

left() in bash

$ var='Hello, World!'
#${string:position:length}
$ echo "${var:0:5}"
Hello

right() in bash

$ var='Hello, World!'
#${string:position:length}
$ echo "${var:7:${#var}}"
World!
#or a litte more dynamic.. (the 6