Truncates in input string to a specified number of characters.
The LEFT function can be called with the 'LEFT' or 'TD_LEFT' alias names.
The arguments include two parameters:
- First Parameter
The input string that the substring is created from. CHAR, VARCHAR, and CLOB are supported, but other types must be explicitly cast. The input can be null or an empty string.
- Second Parameter
A positive integer specifying the number of characters desired from the left side of the string. If the number of character exceeds the number of characters in the original string, the original string is returned.
See the following sections: