LEFT

Retrieve the first three characters from a string.

SELECT LEFT(“SQL Tutorial”, 3) AS ExtractString;

Definition and Usage

The LEFT() function retrieves a specified number of characters from the beginning of a string.

Tip: Consider exploring the RIGHT() function as well.

LEFT(string, number_of_chars)

Parameter	Description
string	Necessary: The string from which extraction is required.
number_of_chars	Mandatory: The number of characters to extract. If this value exceeds the character count in the string, the function will return the entire string.

Works in:

From MySQL 4.0

Retrieve a substring of 5 characters from the text in the “CustomerName” column, starting from the left side.

SELECT LEFT(CustomerName, 5) AS ExtractString
FROM Customers;