The LEFT function is helpful if you want to return the first character or characters in a text string from the left, based on the number of characters you specify.
Syntax
LEFT(text,num_chars)
Text is the text string that contains the characters you want to extract.
Num_chars specifies the number of characters you want LEFT to extract.
Num_chars must be greater than or equal to zero.
If num_chars is greater than the length of text, LEFT returns all of text.
If num_chars is omitted, it is assumed to be 1.
Example 1:
Data in A1: Sale Price
Formula: =LEFT(A1,4)
Result: Sale
Example 2:
Data in A2: Sweden
Formula: =LEFT(A2)
Result: S
