Left Function

  • Article

Returns a specified number of characters from the left side of a string.

                      Left(string, length)

Arguments

  • string
    String expression from which the leftmost characters are returned. If string contains Null, Null is returned.

  • length
    Numeric expression indicating how many characters to return. If 0, a zero-length string("") is returned. If greater than or equal to the number of characters in string, the entire string is returned.

Remarks

To determine the number of characters in string, use the Len function.

The following example uses the Left function to return the first three characters of MyString:

Dim MyString, LeftString
MyString = "VBScript"
LeftString = Left(MyString, 3) ' LeftString contains "VBS".

Note

The LeftB function is used with byte data contained in a string. Instead of specifying the number of characters to return, length specifies the number of bytes.

Requirements

Version 1

See Also

Reference

Len Function

Mid Function

Right Function

Change History

Date

History

Reason

April 2009

Modified literal in example.

Content bug fix.