The LEFT() function returns a specified number of characters from a string, starting from the left-hand side.
In this tutorial:
- Syntax
- Example
- Next steps
Required knowledge:
1. Syntax
=LEFT(text,num_chars)
text is a reference to the cell containing the text string (or a literal text string).
num_chars is the number of characters to be returned
Returns a string.
2. Example
A common task for a teacher is to create class lists. The requirements for how student names are represented change and sometimes we want the students’ initials and not their full first name.
=LEFT(D2,1)
3. Next steps
To finish the above tasks, we would join the surname and the initial separated by a comma and a space in cell F2:
=CONCAT(C2,", ",E2)
Go to Using Excel’s CONCATENATE() function to learn more about this solution.