Unexpected result

[linton]

Os-Ubuntu 18.04 Python - Ver 3.6 Using Idle .

dms = input('DR_Lat (deg,min,sec,N/S/E/W) = ')
print(dms[0])

Output:

Output:
=============== RESTART: /home/linton/Documents/Python/test.py ===============
DR_Lat (deg,min,sec,N/S/E/W) = 54,20,20
5

My expectation from the internet searches I have done is that the output for the index dms[0] should be the element before the first comma - in this case 54 but it only outputs the first digit 5 and not the whole indexed element.