> > Not quite the same, though. Chris' method
> > 
> >     lopOff("fred", "e") would return "d"
> >     "fred".lopOff("e")  would return "frd"
> 
> The first one is the one I'm going for, although the way I'm using it,
> either implementation would do the job. Let's say I want to stick with the
> first way ... any suggestions there?
> 
> Oh, wait ... Guy's:
> 
>   s[/^#{substr}/] = "" 
> 
> ... looks like it would work. (Although reg expressions read like German to
> me <g>). The way I use it, I always have the substr at the front of the str.
> 
> Thanks to all.

Shouldn't you Regexp#quote the substr argument in case it's got regular
expression metacharacters in it?