Arduino substring doesn't work - c++

Question

I have a static method that searches (and returns) into String msg the value between a TAG
this is the code function:
static String genericCutterMessage(String TAG, String msg){
Serial.print("a-----");
Serial.println(msg);
Serial.print("b-----");
Serial.println(TAG);
if(msg.indexOf(TAG) >= 0){
Serial.print("msg ");
Serial.println(msg);
int startTx = msg.indexOf(TAG)+3;
int endTx = msg.indexOf(TAG,startTx)-2;
Serial.print("startTx ");
Serial.println(startTx);
Serial.print("endTx ");
Serial.println(endTx);
String newMsg = msg.substring(startTx,endTx);
Serial.print("d-----");
Serial.println(newMsg);
Serial.println("END");
Serial.println(newMsg.length());
return newMsg;
} else {
Serial.println("d-----TAG NOT FOUND");
return "";
}
}
and this is output
a-----[HS][TS]5132[/TS][TO]5000[/TO][/HS]
b-----HS
msg [HS][TS]5132[/TS][TO]5000[/TO][/HS]
startTx 4
endTx 30
d-----
END
0
fake -_-'....go on! <-- print out of genericCutterMessage
in that case I want return the string between HS tag, so my expected output is
[TS]5132[/TS][TO]5000[/TO]
but I don't know why I receive a void string.
to understand how substring works I just followed tutorial on official Arduino site
http://www.arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/StringSubstring
I'm not an expert in C++ and Arduino but this looks like a flushing or buffering problem, isn't it?
Any idea?

Answer 1

Your code is correct, this should not happen. Which forces you to consider the unexpected ways that this could possibly fail. There is really only one candidate mishap I can think of, your Arduino is running out of RAM. It has very little, the Uno only has 2 kilobytes for example. It doesn't take a lot of string munching to fill that up.
This is not reported in a smooth way. All I can do is point you to the relevant company page. Quoting:
If you run out of SRAM, your program may fail in unexpected ways; it will appear to upload successfully, but not run, or run strangely. To check if this is happening, you can try commenting out or shortening the strings or other data structures in your sketch (without changing the code). If it then runs successfully, you're probably running out of SRAM. There are a few things you can do to address this problem:
If your sketch talks to a program running on a (desktop/laptop) computer, you can try shifting data or calculations to the computer, reducing the load on the Arduino.
If you have lookup tables or other large arrays, use the smallest data type necessary to store the values you need; for example, an int takes up two bytes, while a byte uses only one (but can store a smaller range of values).
If you don't need to modify the strings or data while your sketch is running, you can store them in flash (program) memory instead of SRAM; to do this, use the PROGMEM keyword.
That's not very helpful in your specific case, you'll have to look at the rest of the program for candidates. Or upgrade your hardware, StackExchange has a dedicated site for Arduino enthusiasts, surely the best place to get advice.