line="你好世界" # Chinese characters echo "${line:0:4}" Output: �

this is where cut will work

I'm not sure why this isn't working. Test case 2 is failing for no apparent reason. This is the most elegant solution, thank you very much Zorse Unlimited

while read X; do
    echo "${X:0:4}"
done

cut -b 1-4

Simple Code

while read lines; do
    echo $lines | cut -c 0-4
done

why the fk does this not work? Test case 2 fails, for no reason. This IS the most elegant solution thank you very much.

while read X; do
    echo "${X:0:4}"
done