String.prototype.substr()

Deprecated: This feature is no longer recommended. Though some browsers might still support it, it may have already been removed from the relevant web standards, may be in the process of being dropped, or may only be kept for compatibility purposes. Avoid using it, and update existing code if possible; see the compatibility table at the bottom of this page to guide your decision. Be aware that this feature may cease to work at any time.

The substr() method returns a portion of the string, starting at the specified index and extending for a given number of characters afterwards.

Syntax

substr(start)
substr(start, length)

Parameters

start

The index of the first character to include in the returned substring.

length

Optional. The number of characters to extract.

Return value

A new string containing the specified part of the given string.

Description

substr() extracts length characters from a str, counting from the start index.

  • If start is a non-negative number, the index starts counting from the start of the string. Its value is capped at str.length - 1.
  • If start is a negative number, the index starts counting from the end of the string. Its value is capped at -str.length.
  • Note: In Microsoft JScript, negative values of the start argument are not considered to refer to the end of the string.
  • If length is omitted, substr() extracts characters to the end of the string.
  • If length is undefined, substr() extracts characters to the end of the string.
  • If length is a negative number, it is treated as 0.
  • For both start and length, NaN is treated as 0.

Polyfill

Microsoft's JScript does not support negative values for the start index. To use this feature in JScript, you can use the following code: 

// only run when the substr() function is broken
if ('ab'.substr(-1) != 'b') {
  /**
   *  Get the substring of a string
   *  @param  {integer}  start   where to start the substring
   *  @param  {integer}  length  how many characters to return
   *  @return {string}
   */
  String.prototype.substr = function(substr) {
    return function(start, length) {
      // call the original method
      return substr.call(this,
        // did we get a negative start, calculate how much it is from the beginning of the string
        // adjust the start parameter for negative value
        start < 0 ? this.length + start : start,
        length)
    }
  }(String.prototype.substr);
}

Examples

Using substr()

var aString = 'Mozilla';

console.log(aString.substr(0, 1));   // 'M'
console.log(aString.substr(1, 0));   // ''
console.log(aString.substr(-1, 1));  // 'a'
console.log(aString.substr(1, -1));  // ''
console.log(aString.substr(-3));     // 'lla'
console.log(aString.substr(1));      // 'ozilla'
console.log(aString.substr(-20, 2)); // 'Mo'
console.log(aString.substr(20, 2));  // ''

Specifications

Specification
ECMAScript Language Specification
# sec-string.prototype.substr

Browser compatibility

BCD tables only load in the browser

See also