# dashes are just for illustration
my $str =                  "123456789";
my $ss = substr ($str,3);
print "$ss\n"; # will print ---456789
$ss = substr ($str,-3);
print "$ss\n"; # will print ------789
$ss = substr ($str,0,3);
print "$ss\n"; # will print 123------
$ss = substr ($str,0,-3);
print "$ss\n"; # will print 123456---