Array shift equivalent?

[Michael Glaesemann <grzm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I'm trying to shift the first element off of an array, but I'm just  
not getting it. I'm not necessarily interested in saving the rest of  
the array. i just want to get the first element, which in this case  
is another array.

# select * from arrays;
this_array_id |                    this_array
---------------+---------------------------------------------------
             1 | {{foo,bar,baz},{afoo,abar,abaz},{bfoo,bbar,bbaz}}
(1 row)

I'd like to get {foo,bar,baz}.

My first try:

# select this_array[1] from arrays;
this_array
------------
(1 row)

# select this_array[1][1:3] from arrays;
   this_array
-----------------
{{foo,bar,baz}}
(1 row)

This last one is close, but it's nested:

# select array_dims(this_array[1][1:3]) from arrays;
array_dims
------------
[1:1][1:3]
(1 row)

I'd like to get just a [1:3] array.

What am I missing? Thanks for any assistance.

Michael Glaesemann
grzm seespotcode net