---
title: 'PostgreSQL LEFT() Function'
page_title: 'PostgreSQL LEFT: Get First N Characters in a String'
page_description: 'This tutorial shows you how to use the PostgreSQL LEFT() function to get the first n characters in a string.'
prev_url: 'https://www.postgresqltutorial.com/postgresql-string-functions/postgresql-left/'
ogImage: '/postgresqltutorial/PostgreSQL-LEFT-example.png'
updatedOn: '2024-01-29T02:05:23+00:00'
enableTableOfContents: true
previousLink:
  title: 'PostgreSQL MD5() Function'
  slug: 'postgresql-string-functions/postgresql-md5'
nextLink:
  title: 'PostgreSQL RIGHT() Function'
  slug: 'postgresql-string-functions/postgresql-right'
---

The PostgreSQL `LEFT()` function returns the first `n` characters in the string.

## Syntax

The following illustrates the syntax of the PostgreSQL `LEFT()` function:

```sql
LEFT(string, n)
```

## Arguments

The PostgreSQL `LEFT()` function requires two arguments:

**1\) `string`**

is a string from which a number of the leftmost characters returned.

**2\) `n`**

is an integer that specifies the number of left\-most characters in the string should be returned.

If `n` is negative, the `LEFT()` function returns the leftmost characters in the string but last `|n|` (absolute) characters.

## Return value

The PostgreSQL `LEFT()` function returns the first `n` characters in a string.

## Examples

Let’s look at some examples of using the `LEFT()` function.

The following example shows how to get the first character of a string `'ABC'`:

```
SELECT LEFT('ABC',1);
```

The result is

```text
 left
------
 A
(1 row)
```

To get the first two characters of the string ‘ABC’, you use 2 instead of 1 for the `n` argument:

```
SELECT LEFT('ABC',2);
```

Here is the result:

```text
 left
------
 AB
(1 row)
```

The following statement demonstrates how to use a negative integer:

```
SELECT LEFT('ABC',-2);
```

In this example, n is \-2, therefore, the `LEFT()` function return all character except the last 2 characters, which results in:

```
 left
------
 A
(1 row)
```

See the following customer table in the sample database:

The following statement uses the `LEFT()` function to get the initials and the `COUNT()` function to return the number of customers for each initial.

```
SELECT LEFT(first_name, 1) initial,
    COUNT(*)
FROM customer
GROUP BY initial
ORDER BY initial;
```

In this example, first, the `LEFT()` function returns initials of all customers. Then, the [`GROUP BY`](../postgresql-tutorial/postgresql-group-by) clause groups customers by their initials. Finally, the [`COUNT()`](../postgresql-aggregate-functions/postgresql-count-function) function returns the number of customer for each group.

![PostgreSQL LEFT example](/postgresqltutorial/PostgreSQL-LEFT-example.png)

## Remarks

If you want to get the `n` rightmost characters, please see the [`RIGHT()`](postgresql-right) function for the details.

In this tutorial, you have learned how to use the PostgreSQL `LEFT()` function to get the n left\-most characters in a string.