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

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

The LEFT() function in Excel allows you to extract a certain number of characters from the start (left side) of a string.

📘 Syntax:

=LEFT(text, num_chars)

✅ Example:

=LEFT("EMP1009", 3)

This returns "EMP", the first three characters of the string.

🎯 Use Cases:

• Extract department codes from IDs
• Get area codes from phone numbers
• Cut out prefixes like "HR", "INV", or "REG"

💡 Bonus Tip:

Use LEFT() with SEARCH() to extract dynamic lengths.

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