How to split a string in shell and get the last field

Question

Suppose I have the string 1:2:3:4:5 and I want to get its last field (5 in this case). How do I do that using Bash? I tried cut, but I

Answer 1

If your last field is a single character, you could do this:

a="1:2:3:4:5"

echo ${a: -1}
echo ${a:(-1)}

Check string manipulation in bash.