VB.NET Language in a Nutshell, Second Edition

Name

Left Function

Class

Microsoft.VisualBasic.Strings

Syntax

Left(str, length)

str (required; String)

The string to be processed

length (required; Long)

The number of characters to return from the left of the string

Return Value

String

Description

Returns a string containing the leftmost length characters of str

Rules at a Glance

• If length is 0, a zero-length string (“”) is returned.

• If length is greater than the length of str, str is returned.

• If str is Nothing, Left returns Nothing.

Programming Tips and Gotchas

• Use the Len function to determine the overall length of str.

• The Left function corresponds to the BCL System.String class’ Substring method. For example, the following two assignments to the sCity variable are functionally identical:

  Dim sCity As String
  Dim sLocation As String = "New York, New York"
  sCity = Left(sLocation, 8)
  sCity = sLocation.Substring(0, 8)

  Note that the Substring method uses a zero-based index to determine the starting position of the substring.

See Also

Mid Function, Right Function