====== PadStart(text, pad_char, total_len) ======
Category:  Text function

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=====Description=====
This function pads the beginning of //text// with //pad_char// up to a total length defined by //total_len//.

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=====Use cases=====
This function is useful for creating text values from numbers that require leading zeros.

Create fixed width datasets by padding blank spaces to the front of values in each column.

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=====Arguments=====
^Argument^Type^Description^
|text|Text|The text value to be padded.|
|pad_char|Text (a single character)|The character to append to the start of //text// repeatedly until the total string length of //total_len// is reached.|
|total_len|Number|The total length of the result string including //text// plus all repeated instances of //pad_text//.|

**Return value type:** Text

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=====Remarks=====
//text// and //pad_char// are implicitly converted to text values if required.

Entering a value for //pad_char// longer than a single character results in an error message.

Entering a value for //total_len// equal to or less than the length of //text// simply returns the value of //text//.

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=====Examples=====

  padstart('99', '0', 5) //Returns '00099'

  padstart('1000', '0', 3) //Returns '1000'  (Result length entered (3) is less than the length of '1000' (4))

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Create a fixed-width dataset from [Col1], [Col2] and [Col3] where [Col1] must be 5 characters wide, [Col2] must be 20 characters wide, and [Col3] must be 12 characters wide:
  padstart([Col1], ' ', 5)
  padstart([Col2], ' ', 20)
  padstart([Col3], ' ', 12)
  

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===== See also =====
  * [[syntax:functions:padend|PadEnd(text, pad_char, total_len)]]