LEFTB ( string [ , number-bytes ] )

Description: Extracts the left-most number-bytes-worth of characters from string. (LEFTB is intended for use with languages that use the double-byte character set (DBCS), whereas LEFT (§3.17.7.190) is intended for use with languages that use the single-byte character set (SBCS).)

Arguments:

Name	Type	Description
string	text	Designate the string from which a substring is to be extracted.
number-bytes	number	The number of bytes to be extracted. If omitted, a count of 1 shall be assumed. number-bytes shall be at least 0. If number-bytes exceeds the length of string, the whole of string shall be extracted.

Return Type and Value: text – A string containing the left-most number-bytes-worth of characters from string.

However, if number-bytes is negative, #VALUE! is returned.

[Example: Assuming 1-byte characters:

LEFTB("abcdef",2) results in ab
LEFTB(A10,4) results in xyz1, when A10 contains xyz123

end example]