Return first digit of an integer

Question

How in Java do you return the first digit of an integer.?

i.e.

345

Returns an int of 3.

Answer 1

public static int firstDigit(int n) {
  while (n < -9 || 9 < n) n /= 10;
  return Math.abs(n);
}

Should handle negative numbers pretty well, too. Will return a negative first digit in that case.