LEFT

The LEFT function returns a string of length length, containing the leftmost length characters of string.

Read syntax diagramSkip visual syntax diagram LEFT( string , length ,pad )
The string returned is padded with pad characters (or truncated) on the right as needed. The default pad character is a blank. length must be a positive whole number or zero. The LEFT function is exactly equivalent to:
Read syntax diagramSkip visual syntax diagram SUBSTR ( string , 1 , length ,pad )

Examples

LEFT('abc d',8)        ->    'abc d   '
LEFT('abc d',8,'.')    ->    'abc d...'
LEFT('abc  def',7)     ->    'abc  de'