For example:
julia> str = ["az", "by", missing, "cx"];
julia> [ ismissing(x) ? missing : SubString(x,1,1) for x in str ]
4-element Vector{Union{Missing, SubString{String}}}:
"a"
"b"
missing
"c"
For example:
julia> str = ["az", "by", missing, "cx"];
julia> [ ismissing(x) ? missing : SubString(x,1,1) for x in str ]
4-element Vector{Union{Missing, SubString{String}}}:
"a"
"b"
missing
"c"