# LEFT

## Content

This function returns the specified leftmost characters from a text value.

## Syntax

`LEFT(mytext, [num_chars])`

## Arguments

This function has these arguments:

| Argument | Description |
| -------- | ----------- |
| *mytext* | [Required] Text string that contains the characters you want to extract. |
| *num\_chars* | [Optional] Number of characters to extract; if omitted, uses one; if not an integer, the number is truncated |

The *mytext* argument can be a string, a formula that returns a string, or a reference to a cell containing a string.
The *num\_chars* argument has these rules:

* It must be greater than or equal to zero.
* If it is greater than the length of text, this function returns all the text.

## Examples

`LEFT(A2,LEN(A2)-1)`
`LEFT(R2C1,LEN(R2C1)-1)`
`LEFT("TotalPrice")` gives the result T
`LEFT("Total Price", 5)` gives the result Total