Create a string array and delete substrings from it. Starting in R2017a, you can create strings using double quotes.

str = ["the quick brown fox jumps";
       "over the lazy dog"]

str = 2x1 string
    "the quick brown fox jumps"
    "over the lazy dog"

If you are using R2016b, create string arrays using the string function instead of double quotes.

Delete the substring "the " from str. The erase function deletes both instances.

newStr = erase(str,"the ")

newStr = 2x1 string
    "quick brown fox jumps"
    "over lazy dog"

Delete multiple substrings from str.

match = ["the ","quick ","lazy "];
newStr = erase(str,match)

newStr = 2x1 string
    "brown fox jumps"
    "over dog"

Since R2020b

Create a string array of file names, including full paths.

str = ["C:\Temp\MyReport.docx";
       "C:\Data\Experiment1\Trial1\Sample1.csv";
       "C:\Temp\Slides.pptx"]

str = 3x1 string
    "C:\Temp\MyReport.docx"
    "C:\Data\Experiment1\Trial1\Sample1.csv"
    "C:\Temp\Slides.pptx"

Delete the paths, leaving only file names. To match paths, create a pattern using the wildcardPattern function that matches all text that includes a final "\" character. Use that pattern with the erase function.

match = wildcardPattern + "\"

match = pattern
  Matching:

    wildcardPattern + "\"

filenames = erase(str,match)

filenames = 3x1 string
    "MyReport.docx"
    "Sample1.csv"
    "Slides.pptx"

For a list of functions that create pattern objects, see pattern.

Create a character vector. Delete the substring, ' World', including the space character.

chr = 'Hello World'

chr = 
'Hello World'

newChr = erase(chr,' World')

newChr = 
'Hello'