Left

Scripting > UNICOM Intelligence Function Library > Text, categorical, and array functions > Left

Left

Returns a string containing the first characters from a string, a category list containing the first categories from a category list, or an array containing the first elements from an array.

Syntax

Left(Val, Length)

Parameter

Val

Type: None

Text value, categorical value, or array to operate on.

Length

Type: Long

Number of characters, categories, or elements to return. If Length is greater than the number of items available, all of the items are returned.

(return)

Type: None

The required characters, categories, or elements from Val.

Remarks

For type Text, the return value is of type Text, and contains Length characters from the start of Val. For type Categorical, the return value is of type Categorical, and contains Length categories from the start of Val. For an array (which can contain values of any type), the return value is an array, and contains Length elements from the start of Val. For any other type, an error occurs.

When Val is NULL, the return value is NULL.

Examples

Function call	Val	Length	Result	Notes
Left(Val, Length)	24 St John's Road, Barnes	10	24 St John	The return value is the first 10 characters in the supplied string.
Left(Val, Length)	{4,2,9}	1	{4}	The return value is the first category in the supplied category list.
Left(Val, Length)	Split("The quick brown fox")	2	{The,quick}	The return value is the first two elements in the supplied array. See Split for more information.

The following example returns the first six characters of the name text variable:

name.Left(6)

The following example returns the first three categories stored in the remember multiple response variable:

remember.Left(3)

For a mrScriptBasic example that shows using Left in combination with another function, see Call statements. For a data cleaning example, see Example 4: Cleaning other question types.