left

>>-left(length-+------+-)--------------------------------------><
               +-,pad-+

Returns a string of length [length] , containing the leftmost [length] characters of the receiving string. The string returned is padded with [pad] characters (or truncated) on the right as needed. The default [pad] character is a blank. The [length] must be a positive whole number or zero. The [left] method is exactly equivalent to:

>>-SUBSTR(string,1,length-+------+-)---------------------------><
                          +-,pad-+

String class - left method

"abc d"~left(8)        ->    "abc d   "
"abc d"~left(8,".")    ->    "abc d..."
"abc  def"~left(7)     ->    "abc  de"