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

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

The LEFT() function helps extract a given number of characters from the beginning (left side) of a string.

📘 Syntax:

=LEFT(text, num_chars)

✅ Example:

=LEFT("HR2025Team", 2)

This will return "HR", the first two characters.

🎯 Use Cases:

• Extract department codes from employee IDs
• Get year from formatted date strings
• Separate first name initials from full names

⚡ Pro Tip:

Pair LEFT() with FIND() to dynamically extract content before a special character like "-" or space.

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