Left

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Left

Returns the first n characters.

Syntax

Declare Function Left ( ByRef str As Const String, ByVal n As Integer ) As String
Declare Function Left ( ByRef str As Const WString, ByVal n As Integer ) As WString

Parameters

• str
• n

Description

Returns the leftmost n characters starting from the left (beginning) of str. If str is empty, then the null string ("``") is returned. If n <= 0 then the null string ("``") is returned. If n > len(str) then the entire source string is returned.

Return Value

Returns the leftmost substring from str.

Remarks

Usage

result = Left[$]( str, n )

Platform Differences

• DOS does not support the wide-character string version of Left.

Dialect Differences

• The string type suffix "$" is required in the -lang qb dialect. The string type suffix "$" is optional in the -lang fblite dialect.
  The string type suffix "$" is ignored in the -lang fb dialect, warn only with the -w suffix compile option (or -w pedantic compile option).

Differences from QB

• QB does not support Unicode.

See also

• Right
• Mid (Function)

Examples

Dim text As String = "hello world"

Print Left(text, 5)

will produce the output:

hello

An Unicode example:

dim text as wstring*20
text = "Привет, мир!"
print left(text, 6) 'displays "Привет"

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Category: String Functions
Kind: function

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Reproduced from the FreeBASIC Wiki Manual under the GNU Free Documentation License 1.3 — with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts and no Back-Cover Texts. Copyright © the FreeBASIC project and wiki contributors. See License.