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 allows you to extract a given number of characters from the beginning (left side) of a 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
• Separate prefixes from data fields
• Prepare text columns for cleaning or categorization

💡 Bonus Tip:

Pair with SEARCH() or FIND() to dynamically cut based on a character like "-" or "_".

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