RDocumentation: str_sub

if(!require('stringr')) {
    install.packages('stringr')
    library('stringr')
}

hw <- "Hadley Wickham"

# Negative indices
str_sub(hw, -1)
str_sub(hw, -7)
str_sub(hw, end = -7)

# Replacement form
x <- "BBCDEF"
str_sub(x, 1, 1) <- "A"; x
str_sub(x, -1, -1) <- "K"; x
str_sub(x, -2, -2) <- "GHIJ"; x
str_sub(x, 2, -2) <- ""; x

# If you want to keep the original if some argument is NA,
# use omit_na = TRUE
x1 <- x2 <- x3 <- x4 <- "AAA"
str_sub(x1, 1, NA) <- "B"
str_sub(x2, 1, 2) <- NA
str_sub(x3, 1, NA, omit_na = TRUE) <- "B"
str_sub(x4, 1, 2, omit_na = TRUE) <- NA
x1; x2; x3; x4