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string - the string to take characters from count - how many characters to take from the left |
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Returns the leftmost characters of a string. Left( "hello",2 ) is "he". If you ask for more characters than the string holds you simply get the whole string back, so there is no need to check the length first - Left( "hi",9 ) is "hi". The everyday uses are trimming text to fit and testing a prefix. Cutting a player name down to the width of a high-score column, shortening a filename for a menu, or checking whether a line starts with a comment marker with If Left( line$,1 ) = ";" are all one-liners. The count must be 0 or more; a negative value raises a runtime error, so clamp anything you calculated. Asking for 0 characters gives an empty string. See also: Right, Mid, Len, Instr, LSet. |
; Left Example ; ------------ ; Left$ returns the first n characters of a string. player$="Roberta the Rocketeer" Print "Player name: "+player$ Print "" ; Arcade high-score tables keep just three initials Print "Arcade initials: "+Upper$(Left$(player$,3)) ; Cut a long chat message down to a short preview chat$="Anyone want to trade a health pack for two keys?" Print "Chat preview: "+Left$(chat$,20)+"..." ; Asking for more characters than exist returns the whole string Print "Left$(name,99): "+Left$(player$,99) Print "" Print "Press any key to close the example" WaitKey End