Left function

Syntax

Left(source_str, num_chars)

Description

Use the Left function to return a substring containing the leftmost number of characters in source_str. num_chars specifies how many characters to extract. If the string contains Unicode non-BMP characters, each code unit of the surrogate pair is counted as a separate character and care should be taken not to split the surrogate pair.

Parameters

Parameter	Description
source_str	A String from which to derive the substring.
num_chars	A Number specifying how many characters to take from the left of source_str. The value of num_chars must be greater than or equal to zero. If num_chars is greater than the length of source_str, Left returns the entire string. If num_chars is omitted, it is assumed to be one.

Returns

Returns a String value derived from source_str.

Example

The following example sets &SHORT_ZIP to "90210":

&SHORT_ZIP = Left("90210-4455", 5);