LEFT

LEFT(text [,num_chars])

Returns the first or left most characters in a text string.

text	The text string that contains the characters you want to extract.
num_chars	(Optional) The number of characters you want to extract.

REMARKS

* If "text" is a text string then it must be enclosed in speech marks.
* The "text" can be numbers.
* The "text" can be a cell reference.
* If "num_chars" < 0, then #VALUE! is returned.
* If "num_chars" > the length of the "text", then "text" is returned.
* If "num_chars" is left blank, then 1 is used.
* Any blank spaces are counted as individual characters.
* If more than one cell is referenced then a Dynamic Array Formula will be applied.
* You can use the RIGHT function to return the last or right most characters in a text string.
* You can use the TEXTBEFORE function to return the characters from the start of a text string before a delimiter.
* You can use the TEXTSPLIT function to return the text string split into multiple columns using delimiters.
* You can use the TRIM function to return a text string with all spaces removed from the beginning, middle and end.
* You can use the LEFTB function if you have languages that use the double-byte character set.
* The equivalent VBA function is VBA.LEFT
* For the Microsoft documentation refer to support.microsoft.com
* For the Google documentation refer to support.google.com

	A	B
1	=LEFT("Better Solutions", 6) = Better	some text
2	=LEFT("Better", 1) = B	more
3	=LEFT("Better",0) = blank cell	text
4	=LEFT("Solutions") = S
5	=LEFT("Be More Productive", 7) = Be More
6	=LEFT("Be More Productive", 100) = Be More Productive
7	=LEFT(" wordd",5) = " word"
8	=LEFT(TRIM(" wordd"), 5) = wordd
9	=LEFT(12345, 2) = 12
10	=LEFT(B1, 4) = some
11	=LEFT(B1:B3,4) = { some , more , text }
12	=LEFT(Invalid,5) = #NAME?
13	=LEFT("Better Solutions", -5) = #VALUE!
14	=LEFT("Better Solutions", "some text") = #VALUE!

1 - What are the 6 characters on the left of this text string.
2 - What is the first character of this text string.
3 - When the number of characters is 0 an empty string (or blank cell) is returned.
4 - What is the first character of this text string.
5 - What are the 7 characters on the left of this text string.
6 - What are the 100 characters on the left of this text string.
7 - What are the 5 characters on the left of this text string. Blank spaces are counted.
8 - What are the 5 characters on the left of this text string after all spaces have been removed.
9 - What are the first 2 digits of this number.
10 - What are the 4 characters on the left of the text in cell "B1".
11 - What are the 4 characters on the left of the text in cells "B1:B3". This is an example of a Dynamic Array Formula.
12 - When a text string, number or cell reference is not passed in.
13 - When the number of characters is less than 0.
14 - When the number of characters is not a number.