On Tue, 26 Sep 2006 22:06:18 +0900
Newbie <none / none.com> wrote:

> This must be a common newbie question, but I can't find the answer.
> 
> Why does string#[] return an ASCII code, rather than a character?
> 
> "abc"[1,2] #-> "bc"
> "abc"[1..2] #-> "bc"
> "abc"[1] #-> 98

It tells you why in "ri String#[]":

``
Element Reference---If passed a single +Fixnum+, returns the code
of the character at that position. If passed two +Fixnum+ objects,
returns a substring starting at the offset given by the first, and
a length given by the second. If given a range, a substring
containing characters at offsets given by the range is returned.
''

-- Thomas Adam