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Remove first and last character of a string in Java

Last Updated : 15 Jul, 2025
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Given a string str, the task is to write the Java Program to remove the first and the last character of the string and print the modified string.

Examples:

Input: str = "GeeksForGeeks"
Output: "eeksForGeek"
Explanation: The first and last characters of the given string are 'G' and 's' respectively. After removing both the characters, the string will be "eeksForGeek".

Input: str = "Java"
Output: "av"
Explanation: The first and last characters of the given string are 'J' and 'a' respectively. After removing both the characters, the string will be "av".

Table of Content

[Approach - 1] Using string.substring() Method - O(n) Time and O(1) Space

The idea is to use the String.substring() method of string class to remove the first and the last character of a string.

  • This method accepts two parameters, the start and end index of the substring, and extracts the substring from index start to end - 1.
  • We are required to remove the characters at index 0 and n - 1, thus we will call the method with parameters 1 and n - 1.
Java 
// Java program to remove the first and // the last character of a string class GfG {  // Function to remove the first and  // the last character of a string  static String removeFirstandLast(String str) {  // Removing first and last character  // of a string using substring() method  str = str.substring(1, str.length() - 1);  // Return the modified string  return str;  }  public static void main(String args[]) {    // Given String str  String str = "GeeksForGeeks";  // Print the modified string  System.out.print(removeFirstandLast(str));  } }

Output
eeksForGeek

[Approach - 2] Using StringBuilder.deleteChatAt() Method - O(n) Time and O(n) Space

The idea is to use the deleteCharAt() method of StringBuilder class to remove first and the last character of a string. To do so, firstly create a StringBuilder object sb for the given string. Remove the first and last character using sb.deleteCharAt(0) and sb.deleteCharAt(str.length() - 1) respectively.

Java 
// Java program to remove the first and // the last character of a string class GfG {  // Function to remove the first and  // the last character of a string  static String removeFirstandLast(String str) {  // Creating a StringBuilder object  StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder(str);  // Removing the last character  // of a string  sb.deleteCharAt(str.length() - 1);  // Removing the first character  // of a string  sb.deleteCharAt(0);  // Converting StringBuilder into a string  // and return the modified string  return sb.toString();  }  public static void main(String args[]) {    // Given String str  String str = "GeeksForGeeks";  // Print the modified string  System.out.println(removeFirstandLast(str));  } }

Output
eeksForGeek

[Approach - 3] Using StringBuffer.delete() Method - O(n) Time and O(n) Space

The idea is to use the delete() method of StringBuffer class to remove first and the last character of a string.

  • To do so, firstly create the StringBuffer object for the given string. This method accepts two parameters, the start and end index of the string to delete.
  • Remove the first and the last character using sb.delete(0, 1) and sb.delete(str.length() - 1, str.length()) respectively.
Java 
// Java program to remove the first and // the last character of a string class GfG {  // Function to remove the first and  // the last character of a string  static String removeFirstandLast(String str) {  // Creating a StringBuffer object  StringBuffer sb = new StringBuffer(str);  // Removing the last character  // of a string  sb.delete(str.length() - 1, str.length());  // Removing the first character  // of a string  sb.delete(0, 1);  // Converting StringBuffer into  // string & return modified string  return sb.toString();  }  public static void main(String args[]) {    // Given String str  String str = "GeeksForGeeks";  // Print the modified string  System.out.println(removeFirstandLast(str));  } }

Output
eeksForGeek

[Approach - 4] Using Regular Expression - O(n) Time and O(1) Space

The idea is used to Regular Expression for removing the first and last character from the string.

  • To do so, first pass the regex in the pattern.compile() method. Then use pattern object with pattern.matcher() method.
  • At last, remove the first and last character of string using Regex store the result in result variable
Java 
// Java program to remove the first and // the last character of a string import java.util.regex.Matcher; import java.util.regex.Pattern; class GfG {  // Function to remove the first and  // the last character of a string  static String removeFirstandLast(String str) {  // Regular expression pattern to match the first and  // last characters  Pattern pattern = Pattern.compile(".(.*).");  Matcher matcher = pattern.matcher(str);  if (matcher.matches()) {  return matcher.group(1);  }  return str;  }  public static void main(String[] args) {  String str = "GeeksforGeeks";  // Print the modified string  System.out.println(removeFirstandLast(str));  } }

Output
eeksforGeek



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