Returns the substring of +self+ specified by the arguments.

<b>Form <tt>self[index]</tt></b>

With non-negative integer argument +index+ given,
returns the 1-character substring found in self at character offset index:

  'hello'[0]    # => "h"
  'hello'[4]    # => "o"
  'hello'[5]    # => nil
  'Привет'[2]   # => "и"
  'こんにちは'[4] # => "は"

With negative integer argument +index+ given,
counts backward from the end of +self+:

  'hello'[-1] # => "o"
  'hello'[-5] # => "h"
  'hello'[-6] # => nil

<b>Form <tt>self[start, length]</tt></b>

With integer arguments +start+ and +length+ given,
returns a substring of size +length+ characters (as available)
beginning at character offset specified by +start+.

If argument +start+ is non-negative,
the offset is +start+:

  'hello'[0, 1]  # => "h"
  'hello'[0, 5]  # => "hello"
  'hello'[0, 6]  # => "hello"
  'hello'[2, 3]  # => "llo"
  'hello'[2, 0]  # => ""
  'hello'[2, -1] # => nil

If argument +start+ is negative,
counts backward from the end of +self+:

  'hello'[-1, 1] # => "o"
  'hello'[-5, 5] # => "hello"
  'hello'[-1, 0] # => ""
  'hello'[-6, 5] # => nil

Special case: if +start+ equals the length of +self+,
returns a new empty string:

  'hello'[5, 3]  # => ""

<b>Form <tt>self[range]</tt></b>

With Range argument +range+ given,
forms substring <tt>self[range.start, range.size]</tt>:

  'hello'[0..2]  # => "hel"
  'hello'[0, 3]  # => "hel"

  'hello'[0...2] # => "he"
  'hello'[0, 2]  # => "he"

  'hello'[0, 0]  # => ""
  'hello'[0...0] # => ""

<b>Form <tt>self[regexp, capture = 0]</tt></b>

With Regexp argument +regexp+ given and +capture+ as zero,
searches for a matching substring in +self+;
updates {Regexp-related global variables}[rdoc-ref:Regexp@Global+Variables]:

  'hello'[/ell/]     # => "ell"
  'hello'[/l+/]      # => "ll"
  'hello'[//]        # => ""
  'hello'[/nosuch/]  # => nil

With +capture+ as a positive integer +n+,
returns the +n+th matched group:

  'hello'[/(h)(e)(l+)(o)/]    # => "hello"
  'hello'[/(h)(e)(l+)(o)/, 1] # => "h"
  $1                          # => "h"
  'hello'[/(h)(e)(l+)(o)/, 2] # => "e"
  $2                          # => "e"
  'hello'[/(h)(e)(l+)(o)/, 3] # => "ll"
  'hello'[/(h)(e)(l+)(o)/, 4] # => "o"
  'hello'[/(h)(e)(l+)(o)/, 5] # => nil

<b>Form <tt>self[substring]</tt></b>

With string argument +substring+ given,
returns the matching substring of +self+, if found:

  'hello'['ell']      # => "ell"
  'hello'['']         # => ""
  'hello'['nosuch']   # => nil
  'Привет'['ив']      # => "ив"
  'こんにちは'['んにち'] # => "んにち"

Related: see {Converting to New String}[rdoc-ref:String@Converting+to+New+String].