LEFT

LEFT returns the first character or characters in a text string, based on the number of characters you specify.

Syntax

LEFT(text,num_chars)

Text    is the text string that contains the characters you want to extract.

Num_chars specifies the number of characters you want LEFT to extract.

• Num_chars must be greater than or equal to zero.

• If num_chars is greater than the length of text, LEFT returns all of text.

• If num_chars is omitted, it is assumed to be 1.

Example

Col1	Formula	Description (Result)
Sale Price	=LEFT([Col1],4)	First four characters in the string (Sale)
Sweden	=LEFT([Col1])	First character in the string (S)