This function returns the specified leftmost characters from a text value.

Syntax

LEFT(mytext,num_chars)

Arguments

This function has these arguments:

Argument	Description
mytext	Text string that contains the characters you want to extract.
num_chars	[Optional] Number of characters to extract; if omitted, uses one; if not an integer, the number is truncated

The mytext argument can be a string, a formula that returns a string, or a reference to a cell containing a string.

The num_chars argument has these rules:

• It must be greater than or equal to zero.
• If it is greater than the length of text, this function returns all the text.

Data Types

Accepts string data for the first argument and numeric data the second argument. Returns string data.

Examples

LEFT(A2,LEN(A2)–1)

LEFT(R2C1,LEN(R2C1)–1)

LEFT(""TotalPrice"") gives the result T

LEFT(""Total Price"", 5) gives the result Total

Version Available

This function is available in product version 1.0 or later.

See Also

MID | RIGHT | Text Functions