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MySQL LEFT Function

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MySQL Left function is one of the String Function, which will return the left most characters of the user specified expression. This left function uses its second argument to decide, How many characters it has to return.

In this article we will show you, How to write MySQL String left Function using Command Prompt, and Workbench with example.

MySQL LEFT Syntax

The basic syntax of LEFT in MySQL is as shown below:

SELECT LEFT (String_Expression, value)
FROM Source

For this string left function in MySQL demonstration, we are going to use the below shown data

MySQL Left Function Example 1

MySQL Left Example 1

The string left function is used to return the left most characters in a given string. The following query will show multiple ways to use this MySQL Left function.

-- MySQL String Left Example
SELECT LEFT('Learn MySQL Server', 11) AS `Leftmost Characters`;

SELECT LEFT('Tutorial Gateway', 8) AS `Leftmost Characters`;

OUTPUT

MySQL LEFT Example 1

MySQL Left Example 2

The string left function in MySQL also allows you to return the left most characters of the data inside a table. In this example, we are going to find the left most characters of all the records present in Department Name, and Email column.

-- MySQL String Left Example
USE mysqltutorial;
SELECT  FirstName, LastName, 
		DepartmentName, 
        LEFT(DepartmentName, 8) AS `First 8 Characters in Department`,
        Email,
        LEFT(Email, 4) AS `First 4 Characters in Email`
FROM employe
ORDER BY FirstName, LastName;

OUTPUT
MySQL LEFT Example 2

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