UDF for Find the First letter from Input

Question

Hi Masters,
I want find the first letter from input, Can any one help me on this..UDF or any solution.
Ex: E2HB means - Alpha Letter is the first
Ex: 1234 means - Number is the first
Thanks,
Siva

Answer 1

Hi Siva,
            I just want to clarify this doubt, you want the first character of the string you pass to the UDF i.e if input="E2HB"  output="E"   and if input="1234"   output="1". If my assumption is correct you can try the UDF "firstChar" I have shown below this gives exactly the output you want
public class firstLetter {
     public static String firstChar(String s)
          if(s==null)
               return null;
          if(s.equals(""))
               return s;
          String t="";
          t+=s.charAt(0);
          return t;
     public static void main(String[] args) {
          String s1="E2HB",s2="1234";
          s1=firstChar(s1);
          System.out.println(s1);
          s2=firstChar(s2);
          System.out.println(s2);
Regards
Anupam