I have a variable:
var text = \"hello\";
I want to get the 0 positioned character, so:
var firstChar = text[0];
I'm not sure why that doesn't work, but you could try using substr()
You can use .substr().
var firstChar = text.substr(0,1);
Strings aren't accessible like arrays in IE (prior to IE9). Instead you can use charAt, which is available cross-browser:
var text = "hello";
var firstChar = text.charAt(0);
// firstChar will be 'h'