declare s character (100) varying;
s = 'now is the time to come to the aid of the party';
if length(s) <= 2 then stop;
put skip list ('First character removed=' || substr(s,2) );
put skip list ('Last character removed='  || substr(s, 1, length(s)-1) );
put skip list ('One character from each end removed=' ||
   substr(s, 2, length(s)-2) );