Substring substr

1

i can’t seem to get either method to work. i just want to grab a substring from a string:

	var dt:String=RS.getItemAt(q).articledate;
	trace(dt);
	trace("sub: "+dt.substr(1, 8));
	var dte:String=new String();
	dte=dt.substring(1,8);
	trace(dte);

i get ‘undefined’ back