left(x,n) or left(x,characterList)

The first argument is a variable or value of any type. This function converts the first argument to a string (if it is real or double, it is formatted with six decimals only); then either extracts the leftmost n characters from the string, where n is a positive integer constant; or extracts all characters to the left of any character in the specified characterList, where characterList is one or more characters listed within quote (") characters. The output is a string variable. For example,

$left ("abcdefg",4) = abcd

$left("abcdefg","cxn") = ab

If nothing in the characterList is found in the string, the result is the entire input string.