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SQL Server LEFT() Function

Example

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

SELECT LEFT('SQL Tutorial', 3) AS ExtractString;
Try it Yourself »

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;
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Example

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

SELECT LEFT('SQL Tutorial', 100) AS ExtractString;
Try it Yourself »