====== Left(text, no_of_chars) ======
Category:  Text function

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=====Description=====
This function returns the specified number of symbols from the left of //text// as a text value.

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=====Arguments=====
^Argument^Type^Description^
|text|Text|The text value to extract the symbols from.|
|no_of_chars|Integer, minimum of 0|The number of symbols returned from the left side of the //text// argument.|

**Return value type:** Text

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=====Remarks=====
Regardless of the type of value passed in for //text//, the result of this function is //always// a text value.

Entering a //no_of_chars// of 0 will return an empty value.  Entering a //no_of_chars// greater than the length of //text// will result in the full //text// value being returned.

Numbers and equations can be used as the //text// argument and are implicitly converted to their text-equivalent.  When passing in an equation for //text//, //no_of_chars// number of symbols from the equation's //result// will be returned.

Passing in a date value (#yyyy-MM-dd) will return //no_of_chars// number of symbols from the converted date serial value.  See the examples below.

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=====Examples=====

  left('Los Angeles', 3) //Returns 'Los'

  left('IT services', 8) //Returns 'IT servi'

  left('Canada',10) //Returns 'Canada'

  left('EasyMorph',0) //Returns ''  (Empty value)

  left(12345, 3) //Returns '123'  (Note, the numeric value of 12345 was passed in.  The result is a text value.)

  left(#2021-10-21, 3) //Returns '444'  (2021-10-21 is 44490 as a date serial value, so '444' is returned.)

  left(100*3, 1) //Returns '3'  (The result of 100 * 3 = 300, so '3' is returned as the leftmost character.)

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===== See also =====
  * [[syntax:functions:right|Right(text, no_of_chars)]]
  * [[syntax:functions:mid|Mid(text, N, K)]]