How to get the first five character of a String

Question

I have read this question to get first char of the string. Is there a way to get the first n number of characters from a string in C#?

Answer 1

This is how you do it in 2020:

var s = "ABCDEFGH";
var first5 = s.AsSpan(0, 5);

A Span points directly to the memory of the string, avoiding allocating a temporary string. Of course, any subsequent method asking for a string requires a conversion:

Console.WriteLine(first5.ToString());

Though, these days many .NET APIs allow for spans. Stick to them if possible!

Note: If targeting .NET Framework add a reference to the System.Memory package, but don't expect the same superb performance.