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SQL Server LEFT() Function

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SQL Server LEFT() Function

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Example

Extract 3 characters from a string (starting from left):

SELECT LEFT('SQL Tutorial', 3) AS ExtractString;

Definition and Usage

The LEFT() function extracts a number of characters from a string (starting from left).

Syntax

Left(

string, number_of_chars )

Parameter Values

Parameter

Description string

Required. The string to extract from number_of_chars Required. The number of characters to extract. If the number exceeds the number of characters in string, it returns string

Technical Details

Works in:

SQL Server (starting with 2008), Azure SQL Database, Azure SQL Data Warehouse, Parallel Data Warehouse

More Examples

Example

Extract 5 characters from the text in the "CustomerName" column (starting from left): SELECT LEFT(CustomerName, 5) AS ExtractString

FROM Customers;

Example

Extract 100 characters from a string (starting from left):

SELECT LEFT('SQL Tutorial', 100) AS ExtractString;

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SQL Server LEN() Function