---
title: first
framework: swift
role: symbol
role_heading: Instance Property
path: swift/string/first
---

# first

The first element of the collection.

## Declaration

```swift
var first: Self.Element? { get }
```

## Discussion

Discussion If the collection is empty, the value of this property is nil. let numbers = [10, 20, 30, 40, 50] if let firstNumber = numbers.first {     print(firstNumber) } // Prints "10"

## See Also

### Getting Characters and Bytes

- [subscript(_:)](swift/string/subscript(_:)-lc0v.md)
- [last](swift/string/last.md)
- [randomElement()](swift/string/randomelement().md)
- [randomElement(using:)](swift/string/randomelement(using:).md)