Google Sheets Function: LEFT

The LEFT function returns a specified number of characters from the left of a string.

Usage:

=LEFT(string)

or

=LEFT(string, number_of_characters)

Usage Example

Here, the LEFT function will be used to retrieve the 3-digit code at the beginning of the reference:

To extract the code from the left, enter the reference and the number of characters into the function:

=LEFT(A2,3)