Letter () of () (block)

Letter () of ()
letter () of ()
Category	Operators
Type	Reporter
Introduced in	1.4

The Letter () of () block is an Operators block and a Reporter block. The block reports the specified character of the given text. Even though the block says "letter", it will report all characters, including letters, numbers, symbols, and even spaces. The block is also useful to write the time, show scores in games, generating project save codes, and decoding certain scripts.

Example Uses

If a value must be read out from the middle of a text, this block will do the job.

Some common uses for the Letter () of () block:

• In conjunction with the answer block to find something out about the answer

if <(letter (1) of (answer)) = [z]> then
say [That's my favorite letter too!] for (3) secs
else
say [Interesting.] for (2) secs
end

• To find a number in the middle of a string of text

if <(numbers) contains (letter (n) of (answer))?> then
say [Number]
else
say [Letter/punctuation]
end

• To tell whether a certain letter in a string equals a certain value

if <(letter (testing) of (answer)) = [z]> then
stop [this script v]
end

• To tell a specific letter in a username

 If <(letter (1) of (username)) = [a]> then
say [The first letter of your username is a.]

• To detect a key that is not in the drop-down menu of the Key () Pressed? block

if <key (letter (1) of [.]) pressed?> then
set [answer v] to (join (answer) [.])
end

Variations

Some Scratch Modifications have a block that lets users choose how many characters in a string to report. This is also wanted for Scratch. It would be like this: (letters () through () of []::operators)

However, it can be replicated with the following code:

set [result v] to []
set [counter v] to (first letter)
repeat (((last letter)-(first letter))+(1))
  set [result v] to (join (result) (letter (counter) of (string)))
  change [counter v] by (1)
end

See Also

• Item () of () — a similar block, used for lists