How to Use the LEFT Function in Excel (Extract Text from the Start)

How to Use the LEFT Function in Excel (Extract Text from the Start)

The LEFT() function is used to extract a specific number of characters from the start (left side) of a text string.

📘 Syntax:

=LEFT(text, num_chars)

✅ Example:

=LEFT("HRMGR123", 5)

This returns "HRMGR", the first five characters of the string.

🎯 Use Cases:

• Extract department codes from employee IDs
• Trim standardized prefixes from strings
• Filter location or category indicators

💡 Bonus Tip:

Pair with SEARCH() and MID() to build powerful dynamic functions.

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