MySQL LEFT() Function

Extract 3 characters from a string (starting from left):

SELECT LEFT("SQL Tutorial", 3) AS ExtractString;

Definition and Usage

The LEFT() function extracts a number of characters from a string (starting from left).

Tip: Also look at the RIGHT() function.

LEFT(string, number_of_chars)

Parameter	Description
string	Required. The string to extract from
number_of_chars	Required. The number of characters to extract. If this parameter is larger than the number of characters in string, this function will return string

Works in:	From MySQL 4.0

Extract 5 characters from the text in the "CustomerName" column (starting from left):

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