$left

Usage: $left(text,number)

Category: text

Description:

Returns the first number characters from text. If number is less than 0, then the value used is the number of characters in text plus number (e.g.: $left(abcd,-1) is the same as $left(abcd,3)). If number is missing or a negative number greater than the number of characters in text, the function will return an empty string.

Example:

The following statements will return the values indicated:

$left(,)       ==>  ""
$left(ABC,)    ==>  ""
$left(ABC,0)   ==>  ""
$left(ABC,2)   ==>  "AB"
$left(ABC,4)   ==>  "ABC"
$left(ABC,-2)  ==>  "A"
$left(ABC,-4)  ==>  ""