Left( )

Action: Returns a specified number of characters from the left side of a string.
 
Syntax: LEFT ("string", length)
 
Parameters: String

String expression from which the leftmost characters are 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. Specifying a negative value will cause Left( ) to return the number of characters equal to the total length of the string minus the value specified.
Returns: The substring requested.
 
See Also: InStr( ), InStrRev( ), Right( ), SubStr( )
 
Example:

; get the first 2 chars of the user's ID
$x = LEFT(@USERID, 2)