<div>
$test = substr &quot;thisisaverygoodtestofthis<wbr />app&quot;,0,20;<wbr /><br />

</div>


$test = substr "thisisaverygoodtestofthisapp",0,20;


<div>
How does this work with variables, for example what I would want to do is:<br />
<br />
$test = substr $test ,0,20;<br />
<br />
<br />

</div>


How does this work with variables, for example what I would want to do is:

$test = substr $test ,0,20;




<div>
That should work just fine.<br />
<br />
Martin<br />

</div>


<div>
It shoudl, but it it doesn't.<br />

</div>


<div>
It does for me.<br />
Maybe you could post your code?<br />
<br />
Martin<br />

</div>


It does for me.
Maybe you could post your code?

Martin


<div>
Are you still using Perl4, which requires using the parenthesis?<br />
(if so, it might help to mention when your question is about an obsolete language:-)<br />
<br />
But if are using Perl4, another way to do it could be:<br />
&nbsp; substr($test,20)= '';<br />
(In Perl5, this would be an error if $test had less than 20 characters)<br />

</div>


Are you still using Perl4, which requires using the parenthesis?
(if so, it might help to mention when your question is about an obsolete language:-)

But if are using Perl4, another way to do it could be:
  substr($test,20)= '';
(In Perl5, this would be an error if $test had less than 20 characters)


<div>
<div class="content wysiwyg-content">
I want to get the first 20 characters of a string...For example:<br />
<br />
$test = &quot;thisisaverygoodtestofthis<wbr />app&quot;<br />
<br />
I want something that makes $test = to the first 20 characters of that string.<br />
<br />
Thanks.
</div>
</div>


I want to get the first 20 characters of a string...For example:

$test = "thisisaverygoodtestofthisapp"

I want something that makes $test = to the first 20 characters of that string.

Thanks.

get first 20 characters

Perl is a high-level, general-purpose, interpreted, dynamic programming languages with over 25 years of development. Perl 5 runs on over 100 platforms from portables to mainframes and is suitable for both rapid prototyping and large-scale development projects.  Perl gained widespread popularity as a Common Gateway Interface (CGI) scripting language, in part due to its regular expression and string parsing abilities. In addition to CGI, Perl is used for graphics programming, system administration, network programming, finance, bioinformatics, and other applications.