string[0] get first character from string

Question

I have a problem which I do not understand. Here is my code:

String input = "3 days ago"
String firstCharacter = input[0].ToString(); //Returns 3
int firstCharacter = (int)input[0];  //Returns 51

Why does it return 51?

PS: My code comes from this thread: C#: how to get first char of a string?

More information:

In case that input = "5 days ago", then int firstCharacter is 53.

Because the `3` is a char with `51` code. You cast a char to an int. Check http://www.asciitable.com/ — Wiktor Stribiżew, Oct 12 '16 at 15:33
What are you trying to achieve? This is normal behavior in .NET. You can cast a char to int and int to char. — Alex, Oct 12 '16 at 15:39

score 5 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 12 '16 at 15:40

5

Casting a char to int in this way will give you its ASCII value which for 3 is equal to 51. You can find a full list here:

http://www.ascii-code.com/

You want to do something like this instead:

Char.GetNumericValue(input[0]);

answered Oct 12 '16 at 15:40

duncan

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score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 12 '16 at 15:50

You can also use substring to extract it as a string instead of a char and avoid having to cast it:

        string input = "3 days ago";
        string sFirstCharacter = input.Substring(0, 1);   
        int nFirstCharacter = int.Parse(input.Substring(0, 1));

string[0] get first character from string

2 Answers2