Left Function

Microsoft® Visual Basic® Scripting Edition
Left Function

Description

Returns a specified number of characters from the left side of a string.

Syntax

Left(string, length)
The Left function syntax has these arguments:

Part Description

string String expression from which the leftmost characters are returned. If string contains Null, Null is returned.

length Numeric expression indicating how many characters to return. If 0, a zero-length string("") is returned. If greater than or equal to the number of characters in string, the entire string is returned.

Remarks

To determine the number of characters in string, use the Len function.
The following example uses the Left function to return the first three characters of MyString:
Dim MyString, LeftString
MyString = "VBSCript"
LeftString = Left(MyString, 3) 'LeftString contains "VBS".
Note The LeftB function is used with byte data contained in a string. Instead of specifying the number of characters to return, length specifies the number of bytes.

Part	Description
string	String expression from which the leftmost characters are returned. If string contains Null, Null is returned.
length	Numeric expression indicating how many characters to return. If 0, a zero-length string("") is returned. If greater than or equal to the number of characters in string, the entire string is returned.


Note The LeftB function is used with byte data contained in a string. Instead of specifying the number of characters to return, length specifies the number of bytes.