Left()

Category: Text

Syntax: Left ( text; numberOfCharacters )

Parameters:

textAny expression that resolves to a text string.

numberOfCharactersAny expression that resolves to a positive integer.

Data type returned: Text

Description:

Returns a string containing the first n characters from the specified text string, where n is the number specified in the numberOfCharacters parameter. If the string is shorter than numberOfCharacters, the entire string is returned. If numberOfCharacters is less than 1, an empty string is returned.

The Left() function is commonly used in text parsing routines to extract portions of a text string. It is often used in conjunction with other text functions. For example, to extract the City portion of a field (called "CSZ") containing "City, State Zip" data, you could use the following formula:

 Let (commaPosition = Position (CSZ; ","; 1; 1); Left (CSZ;
 commaPosition - 1))

Examples:

Function	Results
Left ("Hello"; 2)	Returns He.
Left (FirstName; 1)	Returns the first character of the FirstName field.