Slicing

name="John" echo ${name} # => John echo ${name:0:2} # => Jo echo ${name::2} # => Jo echo ${name::-1} # => Joh echo ${name:(-1)} # => n echo ${name:(-2)} # => hn echo ${name:(-2):2} # => hn length=2 echo ${name:0:length} # => Jo 

See: Parameter expansion