gv-firstword-mergetag.php

<?php // DO NOT COPY THIS LINE

// Merge Tag Modifier to pull only the first character of a string. Usage {Field:1:firstword} inside a custom content field

add_filter( 'gform_merge_tag_filter', function ( $value, $merge_tag, $modifier, $field, $raw_value ) {

	if( 'all_fields' !== $merge_tag && 'firstword' === $modifier ) {
				
		$value = force_balance_tags( wp_specialchars_decode( substr( htmlentities( $value ), 0, 1 ) ) );

		return $value;
	}

    return $value;
}, 10, 5 );