<div>
Try this:<br />
<br />

<pre><code id="code-20-39481025-1">$ str='hello'
$ echo ${str:${#str}-1}</code></pre>
</div>


Try this:



$ str='hello'
$ echo ${str:${#str}-1}

<div>
Sorry, &quot;expr&quot; is not a shell builtin. My mistake!<br />
<br />
And this is shorter:<br />
<br />
<i>str=&quot;tests&quot;<br />
ch=$(expr substr $str ${#str} &nbsp;1)<br />
echo &nbsp;$ch</i>
</div>


Sorry, "expr" is not a shell builtin. My mistake!

And this is shorter:

str="tests"
ch=$(expr substr $str ${#str}  1)
echo  $ch

<div>
1) ${str#&lt;pattern&gt;} strips &lt;pattern&gt; off of the front of the variable's content.<br />
<br />
2) ${str%&lt;pattern&gt;} strips &lt;pattern&gt; off the end of the variable's content.<br />
<br />
3) ${str%?} strips off the last character of the content, so we can use format (2) to strip off the result of (3).
</div>


1) ${str#<pattern>} strips <pattern> off of the front of the variable's content.

2) ${str%<pattern>} strips <pattern> off the end of the variable's content.

3) ${str%?} strips off the last character of the content, so we can use format (2) to strip off the result of (3).

<div>
Does<br />
<br />
&nbsp; ${str: -1}<br />
<br />
work? &nbsp;Note the space between the : and the -
</div>


Does

  ${str: -1}

work?  Note the space between the : and the -

<div>
${#str} contains the lenght of $str
</div>


<div>
both <br />
<br />
echo ${str:${#str}-1}<br />
<br />
and <br />
<br />
${str: -1}<br />
<br />
<br />
gave me the same error
</div>


both

echo ${str:${#str}-1}

and

${str: -1}


gave me the same error

<div>
The string functions available in ksh vary depending on what version you have.<br />
<br />
This will work for all versions of ksh (and bash)<br />
<br />

<pre><code id="code-20-39481625-1">str='abcdefg'
echo $str | cut -c${#str}</code></pre>
</div>


The string functions available in ksh vary depending on what version you have.

This will work for all versions of ksh (and bash)



str='abcdefg'
echo $str | cut -c${#str}

<div>
The ${str: -1} construction is not in ksh88, but is in ksh93. &nbsp;Does AIX still use ksh88?
</div>


The ${str: -1} construction is not in ksh88, but is in ksh93.  Does AIX still use ksh88?

<div>
@simon3270:<br />
<br />
AIX ships ksh88 as /usr/bin/ksh. ksh93 is also shipped, but as /usr/bin/ksh93.<br />
<br />
/bin/ksh and /bin/sh are both hardlinked to /usr/bin/ksh which makes ksh88 kind of a default.<br />
<br />
wmp
</div>


@simon3270:

AIX ships ksh88 as /usr/bin/ksh. ksh93 is also shipped, but as /usr/bin/ksh93.

/bin/ksh and /bin/sh are both hardlinked to /usr/bin/ksh which makes ksh88 kind of a default.

wmp

<div>
Thanks @wmp.<br />
<br />
So, ${str: -1} (and various other solutions) could be used if the first line of the script was changed to<br />
<br />
&nbsp; &nbsp; #!/usr/bin/ksh93<br />
<br />
That said, Tintin's solution is the most portable, though you could also do<br />
<br />
&nbsp; &nbsp; ch=`echo $str | sed 's/^.*$.$$/\1/'`
</div>


Thanks @wmp.

So, ${str: -1} (and various other solutions) could be used if the first line of the script was changed to

    #!/usr/bin/ksh93

That said, Tintin's solution is the most portable, though you could also do

    ch=`echo $str | sed 's/^.*$.$$/\1/'`

<div>
This works in ksh88, ksh93 and bash:<br />
<br />
echo ${str#${str%?}}
</div>


This works in ksh88, ksh93 and bash:

echo ${str#${str%?}}

<div>
unless you have something like<br />
str='***'
</div>


<div>
Yep.<br />
<br />
echo &quot;${str#${str%?}}&quot;<br />
<br />
but then also<br />
<br />
ch=`echo &quot;$str&quot; | sed 's/^.*$.$$/\1/'` <br />
echo &quot;$ch&quot;<br />
<br />
( simon3270's solution).
</div>


Yep.

echo "${str#${str%?}}"

but then also

ch=`echo "$str" | sed 's/^.*$.$$/\1/'`
echo "$ch"

( simon3270's solution).

<div>
quotes fix echo `&quot;$str&quot; | sed 's/^.*$.$$/\1/'`<br />
but not &quot;${str#${str%?}}&quot;<br />
(at least not in all versions of ksh88, ksh93 and bash)
</div>


quotes fix echo `"$str" | sed 's/^.*$.$$/\1/'`
but not "${str#${str%?}}"
(at least not in all versions of ksh88, ksh93 and bash)

<div>
Interesting.<br />
<br />
ksh93 and bash require this:<br />
<br />
echo &quot;${str#&quot;${str%?}&quot;}&quot;
</div>


Interesting.

ksh93 and bash require this:

echo "${str#"${str%?}"}"

<div>
if it is the nested ${} that is causing the problem, you could (going back to the original request) have:<br />

<pre><code id="code-20-39482918-1">if [ &quot;${str%?}s&quot; = &quot;$str&quot; ]; then
  : string ends with s - do the required work
fi</code></pre>
</div>


if it is the nested ${} that is causing the problem, you could (going back to the original request) have:


if [ "${str%?}s" = "$str" ]; then
  : string ends with s - do the required work
fi

<div>
<div class="content wysiwyg-content">
I need to capture the last character in a string, and if it equals to 's', I need to take one action, if not, then another.<br />
<br />
I have<br />
<br />
str=&quot;tests&quot;<br />
echo ${str:(-1)}<br />
<br />
&nbsp;ch= ${str:(-1)}<br />
<br />
if [ ch == 's' ]<br />
then<br />
<br />
<br />
else<br />
<br />
<br />
fi<br />
<br />
I get an error<br />
<br />
${str:(-1)}: 0403-011 The specified substitution is not valid for this command.
</div>
</div>


I need to capture the last character in a string, and if it equals to 's', I need to take one action, if not, then another.

I have

str="tests"
echo ${str:(-1)}

 ch= ${str:(-1)}

if [ ch == 's' ]
then


else


fi

I get an error

${str:(-1)}: 0403-011 The specified substitution is not valid for this command.

Getting the last character of a string with ksh

The term 'shell' refers to a general class of text-based command interpreters most often associated with the UNIX and Linux operating systems. Popular shells include Bourne, Debian Almquist (dash), Korn (ksh), Bourne Again (bash) and the C shell family (csh). Some view the DOS 'cmd' prompt as a minimal shell of sorts. It is also possible to install Cygwin on Windows and emulate a full Unix environment with complete shell capabilities. Terminal emulators, such as xterm, GNOME Terminal and OS X Terminal, can be used to access shell.

Shell Scripting

Unix is a multitasking, multi-user computer operating system originally developed in 1969 at Bell Labs. Today, it is a modern OS with many commercial flavors and licensees, including FreeBSD, Hewlett-Packard’s UX, IBM AIX and Apple Mac OS-X. Apart from its command-line interface, most UNIX variations support the standardized X Window System for GUIs, with the exception of the Mac OS, which uses a proprietary system.