This post will guide you how to use Excel LEFT function with syntax and examples in Microsoft excel.

Description

The Excel LEFT function returns a substring (a specified number of the characters) from a text string, starting from the leftmost character.

The LEFT function is a build-in function in Microsoft Excel and it is categorized as a Text Function.

The LEFT function is available in Excel 2016, Excel 2013, Excel 2010, Excel 2007, Excel 2003, Excel XP, Excel 2000, Excel 2011 for Mac.

Syntax

The syntax of the LEFT function is as below:

= LEFT(text,[num_chars])

Where the LEFT function arguments are:
Text -This is a required argument. The text string that you want to extract from.
num_chars-This is an optional argument. It will specify the number of characters that you want to extract from Text string.

Note: The Num_chars value must be greater than or equal to zero. If Num_chars is greather that the length of text string, it will return all of text string. If Num_chars value is omitted, it is set to be 1 by default.

Example

The below examples will show you how to use Excel LEFT Text function to extract the leftmost substring from a text string.

#1 To extract the leftmost 4 characters in the B1 cell, just using formula: =LEFT(B1,4).

More LEFT Function Examples

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• Split Text and Numbers
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• Removing Salutation from Name
  To remove salutation from names string in excel, you can create a formula based on the RIGHT function, the LEN function and the FIND function……
• Sum if Cells Begin with Specific Text or Number in Another Cells
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• Extract Part of Text String
  Assuming that you have a list of data in the range of cells B1:B5, and you want to get the most left 5 characters from cells, or you want to get the most right 4 characters as a substring from cells……
• Insert The File Path and Filename into Cell
  If you want to insert a file path and filename into a cell in your current worksheet, you can use the CELL function to create a formual……..
• Extract First or Last N Characters
  If you want to extract the first n characters of a sting in a cell in Excel, you can use the LEFT function to create a formula to achieve it. ……..