>>-LEFT(string,length--+------+--)-----------------------------><
'-,pad-'
returns a string of length
length, containing the leftmost
length characters of
string. The string returned is padded with
pad characters (or truncated) on the right as needed. The default
pad character is a blank.
length must be a positive whole number
or zero. The LEFT function is exactly equivalent to:
>>-SUBSTR(string,1,length--+------+--)-------------------------><
'-,pad-'
Here are some examples:
LEFT('abc d',8) -> 'abc d '
LEFT('abc d',8,'.') -> 'abc d...'
LEFT('abc def',7) -> 'abc de'