Extract first character from a string

In a batch / command file I was always needing the first x characters or a string and ended up with many functions all doing the same thing but different names, i.e. getFirstChar, getFirstTwoChars, etc.. - so decided to make a generic function where I could pass in the number of characters I needed:

::-- getFirstXChars
:getFirstXChars
    set sValIn=%1
    set /a iNo=%2
    set vWorkVal=%%sValIn:~0,%iNo%%%
    call:getFirstX %vWorkVal% vWorkVal2
    set %3=%vWorkVal2%

:getFirstX
    set %2=%~1
goto:eof

to use the syntax would be

set varToTrim=ABCDEFG

call:getFirstXChars %varToTrim% 2 varToTrimAfter

@echo 1 %varToTrim%
@echo 2 %varToTrimAfter%
pause

result from command file:

1 ABCDEFG
2 AB

The cmd.exe can do a limited amount of string parsing. JosefZ gave you a good place to start.

C:>echo %PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE%
AMD64

C:>echo %PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE:~0,1%
A