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<h1>LEFT/LEFTB Function</h1>
<p>The <b>LEFT/LEFTB</b> function is one of the text and data functions. Is used to extract the substring from the specified string starting from the left character. The <b>LEFT</b> function is intended for languages that use the single-byte character set (SBCS), while <b>LEFTB</b> - for languages that use the double-byte character set (DBCS) like Japanese, Chinese, Korean etc.</p>
<p>The <b>LEFT/LEFTB</b> function syntax is:</p>
<p style="text-indent: 150px;"><b><em>LEFT(string [, number-chars])</em></b></p>
<p style="text-indent: 150px;"><b><em>LEFTB(string [, number-chars])</em></b></p>
<p><em>where</em></p>
<p style="text-indent: 50px;"><b><em>string</em></b> is a string you need to extract the substring from,</p>
<p style="text-indent: 50px;"><b><em>number-chars</em></b> is a number of the substring characters. It is an optional argument. If it is omitted, the function will assume it to be 1.</p>
<p>The data can be entered manually or included into the cells you make reference to.</p>
<p>To apply the <b>LEFT/LEFTB</b> function,</p>
<ol>
<li>select the cell where you wish to display the result,</li>
<li>click the <b>Insert function</b> <img alt="Insert function icon" src="../images/insertfunction.png" /> icon situated at the top toolbar,
<br />or right-click within a selected cell and select the <b>Insert Function</b> option from the menu,
<br />or click the <img alt="Function icon" src="../images/function.png" /> icon situated at the formula bar,
</li>
<li>select the <b>Text and data</b> function group from the list,</li>
<li>click the <b>LEFT/LEFTB</b> function,</li>
<li>enter the required arguments separating them by comma,</li>
<li>press the <b>Enter</b> button.</li>
</ol>
<p>The result will be displayed in the selected cell.</p>
<p style="text-indent: 150px;"><img alt="LEFT/LEFTB Function" src="../images/left.png" /></p>
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