Overview
Grammar | LEFT(text, num_chars) | Returns the first or first several characters in the text, based on the number of characters you specify. |
Parameter 1 | text | Text string or referenced cell from which you want to extract characters |
Parameter 2 | num_chars | Number of characters you want to extract |
Notes
The value of num_chars must be equal to or greater than 0. If the value of num_chars is greater than the text length, the LEFT function returns all characters of the text. If num_chars is omitted, the default value 1 is returned.
The function supports two parameters. The first is of any type and the second is of the numeric type (that can be defaulted).
Example
For example, if you want to use the time-type field as a match basis to join two data tables, one of which records time fields in year-month-day format and the other records time fields in year-month-day-hour-minute-second format, the LEFT function can be used in this case to join them into the former format.
Add a formula column, enter the formula LEFT(ingestTime,10), and set the field type to "Time", as shown in the following figure.
The results are dates in year-month-day format as shown in the following figure.
More examples:
| Formula | Result | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| LEFT("Finesoftware",8) | Finesoft | - |
| LEFT("Finesoftware") | F | - |
