Get first two characters of NSString

Question

I have a string an I am trying to get the first 2 characters and the rest of the string. This is how I am trying to do it:

NSString *textAll = [arrayOfMessages objectAtIndex:indexPath.row];
NSString *textMessage = [textAll substringFromIndex:2];
NSString *textType = [textAll substringToIndex:1];

the textAll has this form: HEthe message itself.....

textType should return 'HE' textMessage should return 'the message itself.....' Textmessage now gives me the message but I can't seem to be able to get the textType...

Answer 1

To get the first two characters of a string, you want:

NSString *textType = [textAll substringToIndex:2];  // <-- 2, not 1

From the documentation:

substringToIndex:

Returns a new string containing the characters of the receiver up to, but not including, the one at a given index.

(Note that the method expects that the string is at least 2 characters long, otherwise it throws an exception.)