How to get the first digit of a number in Java?

May 12, 2021

To get the first digit of a number in Java do this: Integer.parseInt(String.valueOf(String.valueOf(number).charAt(0))).

Turn the number to String, then get the first char, then turn that char into a String, then parse the String back to a number:

int number = 123;
String numberString = String.valueOf(number); // "123"
char firstCharacter = numberString.charAt(0); // '1'
String firstCharacterString = String.valueOf(firstCharacter); // "1"
int firstDigit = Integer.parseInt(firstCharacterString); // 1