LEFT Function

Returns the leftmost characters from a text string
Sample usage
LEFT("Hello World!", 3)

Syntax

LEFT(text, [num_chars])
  • text
    The text that you want to return a portion from.
  • num_chars—[optional]
    Starting from the leftmost character, the number of characters to return. If you didn't provide a number, the function returns only the first character.
Usage notes
  • With right-to-left languages, LEFT will return the rightmost characters instead.
Examples

This example references the following sheet information:

  Item Number Transaction Total Units Sold Ship Date
1 C001 1,170.00 78 02/15/19
2 C002 1,491.00 42 03/20/19
3 C003 812.00 217 02/27/19

Given the table above, here are some examples of using LEFT in a sheet:

Formula Description Result
=LEFT("Smartsheet", 5) Returns the five leftmost characters from the text string Smartsheet  Smart
=LEFT([Item Number]2, 3) Return the three leftmost characters from a text string in row 2 of the Item Number column  C00
=SUMIF([Item Number]:[Item Number], LEFT(@cell, 3) = 
"C00", [Transaction Total]:[Transaction Total])
Sums the values in the Transaction Total column for rows where the value in the Item Number column returns the three leftmost characters equal to C00. Rows 1, 2, and 3 apply. 3,473.00

 

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