How to check the first character in a string in Bash or UNIX shell?

Question

I\'m writing a script in UNIX where I have to check whether the first character in a string is \"/\" and if it is, branch.

For example I have a string:

/         


        

Answer 1

cut -c1

This is POSIX, and unlike case actually extracts the first char if you need it for later:

myvar=abc
first_char="$(printf '%s' "$myvar" | cut -c1)"
if [ "$first_char" = a ]; then
  echo 'starts with a'
else
  echo 'does not start with a'
fi

awk substr is another POSIX but less efficient alternative:

printf '%s' "$myvar" | awk '{print substr ($0, 0, 1)}'

printf '%s' is to avoid problems with escape characters: https://stackoverflow.com/a/40423558/895245 e.g.:

myvar='\n'
printf '%s' "$myvar" | cut -c1

outputs \ as expected.

${::} does not seem to be POSIX.

See also: How to extract the first two characters of a string in shell scripting?