title: How can I strip first X characters from string using sed?
body: <p>I am writing shell script for embedded Linux in a small industrial box. I have a variable containing the text <code>pid: 1234</code> and I want to strip first X characters from the line, so only 1234 stays. I have more variables I need to "clean", so I need to cut away X first characters and <code>${string:5}</code> doesn't work for some reason in my system.</p>
  
  <p>The only thing the box seems to have is <code>sed</code>.</p>
  
  <p>I am trying to make the following to work:</p>
  
  <pre><code>result=$(echo "$pid" | sed 's/^.\{4\}//g')
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Any ideas?</p>