How do I use LEFT Function correctly on Excel?

CodePudding user response：

This function returns a given number of characters from the start (the left side) of a given string value.
Use: =LEFT(text, [num_chars])

Example: =LEFT("ABCDEFG",3) will evaulate to ABC
In place of ABCDEFG, you can place a reference to another cell to get some of the left most characters of the value in the given cell.

Read more here: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/left-leftb-functions-9203d2d2-7960-479b-84c6-1ea52b99640c

CodePudding user response：

If you want a string of numbers then:

=left(A2,3)

Where cell A2 contains « 123456 »

Gives 123

But execl will return that a a text result so use:

=left(A2,3)*1

Or:

=value(left(A2,3))

I like multiplying by 1 as it means less to type…