indexOf() syntax - help please !!!

[vosgien]

Hi,
I have a bunch of mc's, instance name is 1st, 2nd 3rd and so on.
I want to display the names in a textBox ( called label) as 1, 2, 3, and so on.

So my code is/should be

label = _name.indexOf( what should I put in here to remove the last 2 letters )

if I put label = _name.indexOf("st");
this works well with 1st, but (obviously) not with 2nd

I have done search here and looked at the AS dic, but cannot find what I am looking for

Any help, as ever, greatly appreciated

Cheers

Vosgien