[solved] string appearing as a word, its length wrongly shows as 1

[solved] string appearing as a word, its length wrongly shows as 1

here's how the string comes to existence:
  1. presidentsname = ((lista[number]).split("|")).slice(0,1);

  3. document.diagnostic.window1.value=presidentsname+"    " + presidentsname.length;

with Hollande the name shows properly, but the length turns out to be 1

how to modify presidentsname.length in order to obtain 8?

or must the error be elsewhere?