MySQL | LEFT method
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MySQL's LEFT(~) method returns a substring with len characters from the left of the input string.
Parameters
1. str | string
The input string from which to return the substring.
2. len | number
The number of characters to be returned in the substring.
If the provided number is greater than the length of the input string, the input string is returned.
Return value
A substring with len characters from the left of the input string.
Examples
Consider the following table about some students:
student_id | fname | lname | day_enrolled | age | username |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Sky | Towner | 2015-12-03 | 17 | stowner1 |
2 | Ben | Davis | 2016-04-20 | 19 | bdavis2 |
3 | Travis | Apple | 2018-08-14 | 18 | tapple3 |
4 | Arthur | David | 2016-04-01 | 16 | adavid4 |
5 | Benjamin | Town | 2014-01-01 | 17 | btown5 |
The above sample table can be created using the code here.
Basic usage
To return the first three characters of student last names:
SELECT lname, LEFT(lname, 3)FROM students;
+--------+----------------+| lname | LEFT(lname, 3) |+--------+----------------+| Towner | Tow || Davis | Dav || Apple | App || David | Dav || Town | Tow |+--------+----------------+
To return the first two characters from 'Hello':
SELECT LEFT('Hello', 2);
+------------------+| LEFT('Hello', 2) |+------------------+| He |+------------------+
