From: S2 [mailto:sto.giocando / motor.storm] 
# thanks. even if 'hällo'[0, 2] looks better

upgrade?

> [RUBY_VERSION, RUBY_PATCHLEVEL, RUBY_REVISION, RUBY_PLATFORM]
=> ["1.8.7", 5000, 0, "i686-linux"]

> puts 'hällo'
hällo
=> nil

> puts 'hällo'[0, 2]
hä
=> nil

> puts 'hällo'[0, 3]
häl
=> nil