SQL Reference

LEFT

>>-LEFT--(--expression1--,--expression2--)---------------------><
 

The schema is SYSFUN.

Returns a string consisting of the leftmost expression2 bytes in expression1. The expression1 value is effectively padded on the right with the necessary number of blank characters so that the specified substring of expression1 always exists.

The first argument is a character string or binary string type. For a VARCHAR the maximum length is 4 000 bytes and for a CLOB or a binary string the maximum length is 1 048 576 bytes. The second argument must be of INTEGER or SMALLINT datatype.

The result of the function is:

• VARCHAR(4000) if the argument is VARCHAR (not exceeding 4 000 bytes) or CHAR
• CLOB(1M) if the argument is CLOB or LONG VARCHAR
• BLOB(1M) if the argument is BLOB.

The result can be null; if any argument is null, the result is the null value.