Returns the byte at zero-based +index+ as an integer:

  s = 'foo'
  s.getbyte(0)    # => 102
  s.getbyte(1)    # => 111
  s.getbyte(2)    # => 111

Counts backward from the end if +index+ is negative:

  s.getbyte(-3) # => 102

Returns +nil+ if +index+ is out of range:

  s.getbyte(3)  # => nil
  s.getbyte(-4) # => nil

More examples:

  s = 'こんにちは'
  s.bytes      # => [227, 129, 147, 227, 130, 147, 227, 129, 171, 227, 129, 161, 227, 129, 175]
  s.getbyte(2) # => 147

Related: see {Converting to Non-String}[rdoc-ref:String@Converting+to+Non--5CString].
