How do I use the LEFT function in Excel?

The LEFT function in Excel is used to extract a specified number of characters from the beginning (left side) of a text string. This function can be useful when working with data that needs to be trimmed down to a certain length or when creating customized labels and codes.

To use the LEFT function in Excel, you need to provide two arguments: the text string you want to extract characters from, and the number of characters you want to extract. The syntax for the LEFT function is:

=LEFT(text, num_chars)

Here, 'text' is the cell reference or text string you want to extract characters from, and 'num_chars' is the number of characters you want to extract.

For example, if you have a list of names in column A and you want to extract the first three characters of each name into column B, you would enter the following formula into cell B1:

=LEFT(A1, 3)

Then, you can copy this formula down to the rest of the cells in column B to extract the first three characters from each corresponding cell in column A.