{"id":284,"date":"2025-07-15T13:34:46","date_gmt":"2025-07-15T13:34:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/functiontranslator.com\/2021\/02\/12\/left-leftbs\/"},"modified":"2021-02-13T11:34:59","modified_gmt":"2021-02-13T11:34:59","slug":"left-leftbs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/functiontranslator.com\/en\/left-leftbs\/","title":{"rendered":"LEFT, LEFTBs"},"content":{"rendered":"

The LEFT<\/strong> and LEFTBs<\/strong> functions in Excel and Google Sheets are designed to extract a specified number of characters or bytes, respectively, from the beginning of a text string. These functions are immensely useful for separating specific sections from a cell’s content when working with text data.<\/p>\n

Syntax:<\/h2>\n

The syntax for the LEFT function in Excel is:<\/p>\n

=LEFT(text, [num_chars])<\/code><\/pre>\n
The syntax for the LEFT function in Google Sheets is:<\/p>\n
=LEFT(text, num_chars)<\/code><\/pre>\n
The syntax for the LEFTBs function in Excel is:<\/p>\n
=LEFTB(text, [num_bytes])<\/code><\/pre>\n
Examples of LEFT Function:<\/h2>\n
Below are some examples to demonstrate the use of the LEFT function:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
Text<\/th>\nFormula<\/th>\nResult<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
This is a test<\/td>\n=LEFT(A2, 4)<\/td>\nThis<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1234567890<\/td>\n=LEFT(A3, 5)<\/td>\n12345<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n
In the first example, the formula =LEFT(A2, 4)<\/code> extracts the first 4 characters from the string “This is a test”, resulting in “This”.<\/p>\n
In the second example, the formula =LEFT(A3, 5)<\/code> pulls the first 5 characters from “1234567890”, giving “12345”.<\/p>\n
Examples of LEFTBs Function:<\/h2>\n
The LEFTBs function operates similarly to the LEFT function but deals with bytes instead of characters, which is particularly important when working with languages that utilize multibyte characters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
Text<\/th>\nFormula<\/th>\nResult<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
\u6587A\u5b57BCD<\/td>\n=LEFTBs(A2, 3)<\/td>\n\u6587A\u5b57<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
12\u658734A\u5b57<\/td>\n=LEFTBs(A3, 4)<\/td>\n12\u658734A<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n
In the first example, using =LEFTBs(A2, 3)<\/code> extracts the first 3 bytes of “\u6587A\u5b57BCD”, producing “\u6587A\u5b57”.<\/p>\n
In the second example, the formula =LEFTBs(A3, 4)<\/code> extracts the first 4 bytes from “12\u658734A\u5b57”, resulting in “12\u658734A”.<\/p>\n
Both the LEFT and LEFTBs functions are valuable tools for text manipulation in Excel and Google Sheets, enabling precise extraction of text segments as needed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Returns the leftmost characters from a text value<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[202],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-text"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nExcel LEFT, LEFTBs Function \u2013 How It Works, Formula Examples and Syntax<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Learn what the Excel LEFT, LEFTBs function does. 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