LEFTB

Returns the first characters of a DBCS text.

This function is available since LibreOffice 4.2.

Syntax

LEFTB("Text" [; Number_bytes])

Text is the text where the initial partial words are to be determined.

Number_bytes (optional) specifies the number of characters you want LEFTB to extract, based on bytes. If this parameter is not defined, one character is returned.

Example

=LEFTB("中国";1) returns " " (1 byte is only half a DBCS character and a space character is returned instead).

=LEFTB("中国";2) returns "中" (2 bytes constitute one complete DBCS character).

=LEFTB("中国";3) returns "中 " (3 bytes constitute one DBCS character and a half; the last character returned is therefore a space character).

=LEFTB("中国";4) returns "中国" (4 bytes constitute two complete DBCS characters).

=LEFTB("office";3) returns "off" (3 non-DBCS characters each consisting of 1 byte).