JavaScript - How To Get The Last Caracter of a String?

Here are the various approaches to get the last character of a String using JavaScript.

1. Using charAt() Method (Most Common)

The charAt() method retrieves the character at a specified index in a string. To get the last character, you pass the index str.length - 1.

const s = "JavaScript";
const lChar = s.charAt(s.length - 1);
console.log(lChar);

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• s.length - 1 calculates the index of the last character.
• s.charAt(index) retrieves the character at the specified index.

2. Using slice() Method

The slice() method extracts a portion of the string. By passing -1 as an argument, you can extract the last character.

const s = "JavaScript";
const lChar = s.slice(-1);
console.log(lChar); 

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• A negative index in slice() counts from the end of the string.
• s.slice(-1) extracts the last character.

3. Using substr() Method

The substr() method extracts a substring starting from a specified position. Although deprecated, it's still supported in most environments.

const s = "JavaScript";
const lChar = s.substr(s.length - 1, 1);
console.log(lChar);

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• The first parameter specifies the starting index.
• The second parameter specifies the number of characters to extract.

4. Using String Length for Index

You can directly use the length property of a string to access the last character by treating the string as an array-like object.

const s = "JavaScript";
const lChar = s[s.length - 1];
console.log(lChar); 

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• Strings are array-like, so you can use bracket notation to access individual characters.
• s[s.length - 1] directly retrieves the last character.

5. Using String.at() Method

The at() method retrieves a character at a specified index, including support for negative indices.

const s = "JavaScript";
const lChar = s.at(-1);
console.log(lChar);

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• s.at(-1) retrieves the last character using a negative index, making it a convenient and modern approach.

6. Using match() Method with Regular Expressions

The match() method combined with a regular expression can extract the last character of a string.

const s = "JavaScript";
const lChar = s.match(/.$/)[0];
console.log(lChar);

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• /.$/ is a regex pattern that matches the last character of the string (. matches any character, and $ asserts the end of the string).
• match() returns an array of matches, and [0] retrieves the matched character.

7. Using Array.prototype.pop() Method

By splitting the string into an array, you can use the pop() method to retrieve and remove the last character.

const s = "JavaScript";
const lChar = s.split("").pop();
console.log(lChar); 

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• s.split("") splits the string into an array of characters.
• pop() removes and returns the last element of the array.

Comparison of Methods