LEFT Function in Excel: Take Characters From the Start of Text

LEFT Function in Excel: Take Characters From the Start of Text featured illustration

📎 This article includes 2 downloadable practice files ↓

⏱ 2 min read

TextLevel: BeginnerAvailable in: Excel 2007+

In this article
  1. Syntax
  2. Examples
  3. Example 1
  4. Example 2
  5. Power combo
  6. LEFT in practice
  7. Where you will use it
  8. Worked example
  9. Mistakes people make
  10. Related functions
  11. Continue learning

LEFT returns the first characters of a text. RIGHT takes them from the end.

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Syntax

=LEFT(text, [num_chars])
Argument What it means
text The text.
num_chars How many characters (1 if omitted).

Examples

Example 1

=LEFT(A2, 2)

State code from a GSTIN (first two digits).

Example 2

=LEFT(A2, FIND(" ", A2)-1)

First name: everything before the first space.

Power combo

=MID(A2, 3, 10)

PAN from a GSTIN: characters 3 to 12.

LEFT in practice

Where you will use it

  • First 3 letters of codes (document type)
  • State code from GSTIN (first 2 characters)
  • Initials from names

Worked example

GSTINFormulaResult
27ABCDE1234F1Z5=LEFT(A2,2)27
07AAACB2894G1ZP=LEFT(A3,2)07
29AABCT1332L1ZT=LEFT(A4,2)29

Results calculated in Excel.

Mistakes people make

MistakeWhat to do instead
Variable-length piecesUse FIND or TEXTBEFORE to find where to cut
Numbers come out as textWrap with VALUE if you need a number

RIGHT · MID · FIND · LEN

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All Text guides →
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📎 Practice files for this article

⬇ Download all 2 files (ZIP · 38 KB)

  • 📗
    Text-cleaning scenarios workbookExtract and clean text (GSTIN, PAN, emails, names) with PASS/FAIL checks, plus the 3 mistakes that break text formulas.
    ⬇ XLSX · 8 KB
  • 📗
    Practice workbook: Text & cleaning24 tasks on realistic sales data — type your formula, the Check column turns green when it is right. Answers sheet included.
    ⬇ XLSX · 35 KB

Free to use for learning. Files with macros (.bas) are plain text — import them with Alt+F11 → File → Import File, and always test on a copy.

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