LEFTB

• How to use LEFTB formula?
• Examples of using LEFTB formula
• LEFTB formula not working?
• Similar formulas to LEFTB

Usage

Use the LEFTB formula with the syntax shown below, it has 2 required parameters:

=LEFTB(string, num_of_bytes)

1. string (required):
   The text string that you want to extract bytes from.
2. num_of_bytes (required):
   The number of bytes that you want to extract from the beginning of the string.

Examples

Extract first character from a string

If you want to extract the first character from a string, you can use the LEFTB formula with a num_of_bytes argument of 1.

Extract first two characters from a string

If you want to extract the first two characters from a string, you can use the LEFTB formula with a num_of_bytes argument of 2.

Extract first three characters from a string

If you want to extract the first three characters from a string, you can use the LEFTB formula with a num_of_bytes argument of 3.

Extract first four characters from a string

If you want to extract the first four characters from a string, you can use the LEFTB formula with a num_of_bytes argument of 4.

Extract first five characters from a string

If you want to extract the first five characters from a string, you can use the LEFTB formula with a num_of_bytes argument of 5.

Common Mistakes

Providing a non-numeric value for num_of_bytes

The num_of_bytes parameter must be a number. Providing a non-numeric value, such as a text string, will result in an error.

Providing a negative value for num_of_bytes

The num_of_bytes parameter must be a positive number. Providing a negative value will result in an error.

Related Formulas

The following functions are similar to LEFTB or are often used with it in a formula:

• LEFT

  The LEFT formula is used to extract a specific number of characters from the beginning of a text string. It is most commonly used to extract the first name or last name from a full name or to extract a date from a text string.

• MID

  The MID formula in Google Sheets is used to extract a specific number of characters from a string, starting at a specified point. This is useful when working with large datasets and you only need a portion of the information in a cell. The formula takes in the string to extract from, the starting point, and the length of characters to extract as arguments.

• RIGHT

  The RIGHT formula in Google Sheets returns the rightmost characters from a string, based on the number of characters specified. It is commonly used to extract a certain number of characters from the end of a string. The formula takes two arguments: the string from which to extract the characters, and the number of characters to extract.

• LEN

  The LEN formula in Google Sheets is used to count the number of characters in a given text string. It is commonly used to check the length of text inputs, or to find the length of a cell value or range.

• FIND

  The FIND formula in Google Sheets searches for a specific text within another text and returns the position of the first occurrence of the text. This formula is often used to extract a substring from a larger string or to check if a certain text exists within another text.

Learn More

You can learn more about the LEFTB Google Sheets function on Google Support.