LEFT (SQL)
A scalar string function that returns a specified number of characters
from the beginning (leftmost position) of a string expression.
Synopsis
{fn LEFT(string-expression,count)}
Description
LEFT returns the specified number of characters from the
beginning of a string. LEFT does not pad strings; if you specify
a larger number of characters than are in the string, LEFT returns
the string. LEFT returns NULL if passed a NULL value for either
argument.
LEFT can only be used as an ODBC scalar function (with
the curly brace syntax).
Arguments
string-expression
A string expression, which can be the name of a column, a string
literal, or the result of another scalar function, where the underlying data type can be represented as any character type (such as CHAR or VARCHAR).
count
An integer that specifies the number of characters to return from the starting position of string-expression.
Examples
The following example returns the seven leftmost characters from each name in
the Sample.Person table:
SELECT Name,{fn LEFT(Name,7)}AS ShortName
FROM Sample.Person
The following example shows how LEFT handles
a count that is longer than the string itself:
SELECT Name,{fn LEFT(Name,40)}
FROM Sample.Person
No padding is performed.
