Returns a Variant (String) containing a specified number of characters from the left side of a string.
Syntax
Left( string, length )
The Left function syntax has these arguments:
|
Argument |
Description |
|
string |
Required. String expression from which the leftmost characters are returned. If string contains Null, Null is returned. |
|
length |
Required. Variant (Long). 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.
Note: Use the LeftB function with byte data contained in a string. Instead of specifying the number of characters to return, length specifies the number of bytes.
Query example
|
Expression |
Results |
|
SELECT Left(ProductID,3) AS FromLeft FROM ProductSales; |
Returns '3' characters from left side of the values in the field "ProductID" from table "ProductSales" in column FromLeft. |
VBA example
Note: Examples that follow demonstrate the use of this function in a Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) module. For more information about working with VBA, select Developer Reference in the drop-down list next to Search and enter one or more terms in the search box.
This example uses the Left function to return a specified number of characters from the left side of a string.
Dim AnyString, MyStrAnyString = "Hello World" ' Define string.MyStr = Left(AnyString, 1) ' Returns "H".MyStr = Left(AnyString, 7) ' Returns "Hello W".MyStr = Left(AnyString, 20) ' Returns "Hello World".
