Boxlang 1.x Stable Released
BoxLang : A Modern Dynamic JVM Language
LogoLogo
APIDocsDownloadTrySourceSupport
  • Introduction
    • Contributing Guide
    • Release History
      • 1.2.0
      • 1.1.0
      • 1.0.1
      • 1.0.0
      • RC Stage
        • 1.0.0-RC.1
        • 1.0.0-RC.2
        • 1.0.0-RC.3
      • Beta Stage
        • 1.0.0-Beta27
        • 1.0.0-Beta26
        • 1.0.0-Beta25
        • 1.0.0-Beta24
        • 1.0.0-Beta23
        • 1.0.0-Beta22
        • 1.0.0-Beta21
        • 1.0.0-Beta20
        • 1.0.0-Beta19
        • 1.0.0-Beta18
        • 1.0.0-Beta17
        • 1.0.0-Beta16
        • 1.0.0-Beta15
        • 1.0.0-Beta14
        • 1.0.0-Beta13
        • 1.0.0-Beta12
        • 1.0.0-Beta11
        • 1.0.0-Beta10
        • 1.0.0-Beta9
        • 1.0.0-Beta8
        • 1.0.0-Beta7
        • 1.0.0-Beta6
        • 1.0.0-Beta5
        • 1.0.0-Beta 4
        • 1.0.0-Beta3
        • 1.0.0-Beta2
    • About This Book
      • Authors
  • Getting Started
    • Overview
      • Multi-Runtime
      • Instructions & Interpreters
      • CommandBox CLI
      • Quick Syntax Guide
        • Differences From CFML
      • Frequently Asked Questions
      • Running ColdFusion/CFML Apps
        • Migrating from Adobe ColdFusion
        • Migrating From Lucee CFML
    • Installation
      • Modules
    • Running BoxLang
      • AWS Lambda
      • CommandBox
      • Chromebooks
      • CLI Scripting
      • Docker
      • GitHub Actions
      • JSR-223 Scripting
      • MiniServer
      • Try BoxLang!
    • BoxLang Cloud Servers
      • Microsoft Azure
      • Amazon Web Services
    • IDE & Tooling
      • BoxLang Debugger
        • MiniServer Debugging
        • CommandBox Debugging
      • BoxLang Compiler
      • CFML Feature Audit
      • CFML to BoxLang Transpiler
    • Runtime Configuration
      • Directives
      • Caches
      • Datasources
      • Experimental
      • Executors
      • Logging
      • Modules
      • Security
  • BoxLang Language
    • Program Structure
    • Syntax & Semantics
      • Comments
      • Variables
      • Variable Scopes
      • Operators
      • Null & Nothingness
      • Strings
      • Numbers
      • Dates & Times
      • JSON
      • Arrays
      • Structures
      • Queries
      • Datasources
      • Conditionals
      • Attempts
      • Data Navigators
      • Exception Management
      • Code Locking
      • Closures => Context Aware
      • Lambdas -> Pure Functions
      • Includes
      • Threading
    • Classes & O.O.
      • Properties
      • Functions
      • Static Constructs
      • Final Constructs
      • Abstract Constructs
      • Interfaces
    • Reference
      • API Docs
      • Lexical Elements
        • Scopes and Constants
        • Keywords
        • Operators
        • Literals
        • Comments
        • Tokens
        • Semicolons
        • Identifiers
        • Packages and Imports
        • Java Interoperability
        • Errors
      • Types
        • array
        • class
        • datetime
        • file
        • numeric
        • query
        • stream
        • string
        • struct
        • xml
      • Built-in Functions
        • array
          • ArrayAppend
          • ArrayAvg
          • ArrayClear
          • ArrayContains
          • ArrayContainsNoCase
          • ArrayDelete
          • ArrayDeleteAt
          • ArrayDeleteNoCase
          • ArrayEach
          • ArrayEvery
          • ArrayFilter
          • ArrayFind
          • ArrayFindAll
          • ArrayFindAllNoCase
          • ArrayFindNoCase
          • ArrayFirst
          • ArrayGetMetadata
          • ArrayIndexExists
          • ArrayInsertAt
          • ArrayIsDefined
          • ArrayLast
          • ArrayMap
          • ArrayMax
          • ArrayMedian
          • ArrayMerge
          • ArrayMid
          • ArrayMin
          • ArrayNew
          • ArrayPop
          • ArrayPrepend
          • ArrayPush
          • ArrayRange
          • ArrayReduce
          • ArrayReduceRight
          • ArrayResize
          • ArrayReverse
          • ArraySet
          • ArrayShift
          • ArraySlice
          • ArraySome
          • ArraySort
          • ArraySplice
          • ArraySum
          • ArraySwap
          • ArrayToList
          • ArrayToStruct
          • ArrayUnshift
        • async
          • ExecutorGet
          • ExecutorHas
          • ExecutorList
          • ExecutorNew
          • ExecutorShutdown
          • ExecutorStatus
          • FutureNew
          • IsInThread
          • isThreadAlive
          • IsThreadInterrupted
          • RunAsync
          • ThreadInterrupt
          • ThreadJoin
          • ThreadNew
          • ThreadTerminate
        • binary
          • BinaryDecode
          • BinaryEncode
          • BitAnd
          • BitMaskClear
          • BitMaskRead
          • BitMaskSet
          • BitNot
          • BitOr
          • bitShln
          • bitShrn
          • BitXor
        • cache
          • Cache
          • CacheFilter
          • CacheNames
          • CacheProviders
          • CacheService
        • cli
          • CLIClear
          • CLIExit
          • CLIGetArgs
          • CLIRead
        • conversion
          • DataNavigate
          • JSONDeserialize
          • JSONPrettify
          • JSONSerialize
          • LSParseNumber
          • ParseNumber
          • ToBase64
          • ToBinary
          • ToModifiable
          • ToNumeric
          • ToScript
          • ToString
          • ToUnmodifiable
        • decision
          • ArrayIsEmpty
          • arrayIsEmpty
          • Attempt
          • IsArray
          • IsBinary
          • IsBoolean
          • IsClosure
          • IsCustomFunction
          • IsDate
          • IsDateObject
          • IsDebugMode
          • IsDefined
          • IsEmpty
          • IsFileObject
          • IsIPv6
          • IsJSON
          • IsLeapYear
          • IsLocalHost
          • IsNull
          • IsNumeric
          • IsNumericDate
          • IsObject
          • IsQuery
          • IsSimpleValue
          • IsStruct
          • IsValid
          • IsXML
          • IsXmlAttribute
          • IsXMLDoc
          • IsXMLElem
          • IsXMLNode
          • IsXMLRoot
          • LSIsNumeric
          • structIsEmpty
        • encryption
          • Decrypt
          • DecryptBinary
          • Encrypt
          • EncryptBinary
          • GeneratePBKDFKey
          • GenerateSecretKey
          • Hash
          • Hash40
          • Hmac
        • format
          • BooleanFormat
          • DecimalFormat
          • LSNumberFormat
          • NumberFormat
        • i18n
          • ClearLocale
          • CurrencyFormat
          • GetLocale
          • GetLocaleDisplayName
          • GetLocaleInfo
          • IsCurrency
          • LSCurrencyFormat
          • LSIsCurrency
          • LSParseCurrency
          • ParseCurrency
          • SetLocale
        • io
          • ContractPath
          • CreateTempDirectory
          • CreateTempFile
          • DirectoryCopy
          • DirectoryCreate
          • DirectoryDelete
          • DirectoryExists
          • DirectoryList
          • DirectoryMove
          • DirectoryRename
          • ExpandPath
          • FileAppend
          • FileClose
          • FileCopy
          • FileDelete
          • FileExists
          • FileGetMimeType
          • FileInfo
          • FileIsEOF
          • FileMove
          • FileOpen
          • FileRead
          • FileReadBinary
          • FileReadLine
          • FileSeek
          • FileSetAccessMode
          • FileSetAttribute
          • FileSetLastModified
          • FileSkipBytes
          • FileWrite
          • FileWriteLine
          • GetCanonicalPath
          • GetDirectoryFromPath
          • GetFileInfo
          • getTempFile
        • java
          • CreateDynamicProxy
        • jdbc
          • IsInTransaction
          • IsWithinTransaction
          • PreserveSingleQuotes
          • QueryExecute
          • TransactionCommit
          • TransactionRollback
          • TransactionSetSavepoint
        • list
          • GetToken
          • ListAppend
          • ListAvg
          • ListChangeDelims
          • ListCompact
          • ListContains
          • ListContainsNoCase
          • ListDeleteAt
          • ListEach
          • ListEvery
          • ListFilter
          • ListFind
          • ListFindNoCase
          • ListFirst
          • ListGetAt
          • ListIndexExists
          • ListInsertAt
          • ListItemTrim
          • ListLast
          • ListLen
          • ListMap
          • ListPrepend
          • ListQualify
          • ListReduceRight
          • ListRemoveDuplicates
          • ListRest
          • ListSetAt
          • ListSome
          • ListSort
          • ListToArray
          • ListTrim
          • ListValueCount
          • ListValueCountNoCase
        • math
          • Abs
          • Acos
          • Asin
          • Atn
          • Ceiling
          • Cos
          • DecrementValue
          • Exp
          • Fix
          • Floor
          • FormatBaseN
          • IncrementValue
          • InputBaseN
          • Int
          • Log
          • Log10
          • Max
          • Min
          • Pi
          • PrecisionEvaluate
          • Rand
          • Randomize
          • RandRange
          • Round
          • Sgn
          • Sin
          • Sqr
          • Tan
        • query
          • QueryAddColumn
          • QueryAddRow
          • QueryAppend
          • QueryClear
          • QueryColumnArray
          • QueryColumnCount
          • QueryColumnData
          • QueryColumnExists
          • QueryColumnList
          • QueryCurrentRow
          • QueryDeleteColumn
          • QueryDeleteRow
          • QueryEach
          • QueryEvery
          • QueryFilter
          • QueryGetCell
          • QueryGetResult
          • QueryInsertAt
          • QueryKeyExists
          • QueryMap
          • QueryNew
          • QueryPrepend
          • QueryRecordCount
          • QueryReduce
          • QueryRegisterFunction
          • QueryReverse
          • QueryRowData
          • QueryRowSwap
          • QuerySetCell
          • QuerySetRow
          • QuerySlice
          • QuerySome
          • QuerySort
        • runtime
          • BoxLangBIFProxy
        • scheduler
          • SchedulerGet
          • SchedulerGetAll
          • SchedulerList
          • SchedulerRestart
          • SchedulerShutdown
          • SchedulerStart
          • SchedulerStats
        • string
          • Ascii
          • CamelCase
          • Char
          • CharsetDecode
          • CharsetEncode
          • Compare
          • CompareNoCase
          • Find
          • FindNoCase
          • FindOneOf
          • Insert
          • JSStringFormat
          • KebabCase
          • LCase
          • Left
          • ListReduce
          • LJustify
          • LTrim
          • Mid
          • ParagraphFormat
          • PascalCase
          • QueryStringToStruct
          • ReEscape
          • ReFind
          • reFindNoCase
          • ReMatch
          • reMatchNoCase
          • RemoveChars
          • RepeatString
          • Replace
          • ReplaceList
          • ReplaceListNoCase
          • ReplaceNoCase
          • ReReplace
          • reReplaceNoCase
          • Reverse
          • Right
          • RJustify
          • RTrim
          • Slugify
          • SnakeCase
          • SpanExcluding
          • SpanIncluding
          • SQLPrettify
          • StringBind
          • StringEach
          • StringEvery
          • StringFilter
          • StringMap
          • StringReduce
          • StringReduceRight
          • StringSome
          • StringSort
          • StripCR
          • Trim
          • TrueFalseFormat
          • UCase
          • UCFirst
          • Val
          • Wrap
          • YesNoFormat
        • struct
          • StructAppend
          • StructClear
          • StructCopy
          • StructDelete
          • StructEach
          • StructEquals
          • StructEvery
          • StructFilter
          • StructFind
          • StructFindKey
          • StructFindValue
          • StructGet
          • StructGetMetadata
          • StructInsert
          • StructIsCaseSensitive
          • StructIsOrdered
          • StructKeyArray
          • StructKeyExists
          • StructKeyList
          • StructKeyTranslate
          • StructMap
          • StructNew
          • StructReduce
          • StructSome
          • StructSort
          • StructToQueryString
          • StructToSorted
          • StructUpdate
          • StructValueArray
        • system
          • ApplicationRestart
          • ApplicationStartTime
          • ApplicationStop
          • BoxAnnounce
          • BoxAnnounceAsync
          • BoxModuleReload
          • BoxRegisterInterceptionPoints
          • BoxRegisterInterceptor
          • BoxRegisterRequestInterceptor
          • BoxUnregisterInterceptor
          • BoxUnregisterRequestInterceptor
          • CallStackGet
          • CreateGUID
          • CreateObject
          • CreateUUID
          • DE
          • DebugBoxContexts
          • Dump
          • Duplicate
          • echo
          • EncodeForHTML
          • GetApplicationMetadata
          • GetBaseTagData
          • GetBaseTagList
          • GetBaseTemplatePath
          • GetBoxContext
          • GetBoxRuntime
          • GetBoxVersionInfo
          • GetClassMetadata
          • GetComponentList
          • GetContextRoot
          • GetCurrentTemplatePath
          • GetFileFromPath
          • GetFunctionCalledName
          • GetFunctionList
          • GetModuleInfo
          • GetModuleList
          • GetRequestClassLoader
          • GetSemver
          • GetSystemSetting
          • GetTempDirectory
          • GetTickCount
          • htmlEditFormat
          • IIF
          • Invoke
          • IsInstanceOf
          • JavaCast
          • ObjectDeserialize
          • ObjectSerialize
          • PagePoolClear
          • Print
          • Println
          • RunThreadInContext
          • SessionInvalidate
          • SessionRotate
          • SessionStartTime
          • Sleep
          • SystemCacheClear
          • SystemExecute
          • SystemOutput
          • Throw
          • Trace
          • URLDecode
          • URLEncodedFormat
          • writeDump
          • WriteLog
          • WriteOutput
        • temporal
          • ClearTimezone
          • CreateDate
          • CreateDateTime
          • CreateODBCDate
          • CreateODBCDateTime
          • CreateODBCTime
          • CreateTime
          • CreateTimeSpan
          • DateAdd
          • DateCompare
          • DateConvert
          • DateDiff
          • DateFormat
          • DatePart
          • DateTimeFormat
          • Day
          • DayOfWeek
          • DayOfWeekAsString
          • DayOfWeekShortAsString
          • DayOfYear
          • DaysInMonth
          • DaysInYear
          • FirstDayOfMonth
          • GetNumericDate
          • GetTime
          • GetTimezone
          • GetTimezoneInfo
          • Hour
          • Millisecond
          • Minute
          • Month
          • MonthAsString
          • MonthShortAsString
          • Nanosecond
          • Now
          • Offset
          • ParseDateTime
          • Quarter
          • Second
          • SetTimezone
          • TimeFormat
          • Week
          • Year
        • type
          • ArrayLen
          • GetMetaData
          • Len
          • NullValue
          • StringLen
          • StructCount
        • xml
          • XMLChildPos
          • XMLElemNew
          • XMLFormat
          • XMLGetNodeType
          • XMLNew
          • XMLParse
          • XMLSearch
          • XMLTransform
          • XMLValidate
        • zip
          • Compress
          • Extract
          • IsZipFile
      • Components
        • async
          • Thread
        • cache
          • Cache
        • debug
          • Timer
        • io
          • Directory
          • File
        • jdbc
          • ProcParam
          • StoredProc
          • DBInfo
          • ProcResult
          • Query
          • QueryParam
          • Transaction
        • net
          • HTTPParam
          • HTTP
        • system
          • Throw
          • InvokeArgument
          • Application
          • Invoke
          • Abort
          • Include
          • Component
          • Execute
          • Flush
          • SaveContent
          • Output
          • Log
          • Sleep
          • Setting
          • Param
          • Lock
          • Associate
          • Silent
          • ProcessingDirective
          • Trace
          • Exit
          • Dump
          • Loop
        • xml
          • XML
        • zip
          • Zip
      • Exceptions
  • BoxLang Framework
    • Application.bx
    • Asynchronous Programming
    • Caching
      • Cache Service
      • BoxCache Provider
      • Custom Cache Providers
      • Custom Object Stores
      • Custom Eviction Policies
    • File Handling
    • Interceptors
      • Core Interception Points
        • Application Events
        • Cache Service Events
        • Cache Provider Events
        • Cache Object Store Events
        • Datasource Service Events
        • Dump Events
        • Dynamic Object Events
        • Function Invocations
        • HTTP Events
        • Life-cycle Events
        • Logging Events
        • Module Events
        • Module Service Events
        • Object Marshalling Events
        • Query Invocations
        • Runtime Events
        • Request Context Events
        • Scheduler Events
        • Scheduler Service Events
        • Template Invocations
        • Transaction Events
      • Request Interception Points
    • HTTP/S Calls
    • Java Interop
    • JDBC Transactions
    • Modules
      • AI
      • Compat CFML
        • Reference
          • Types
            • array
            • datetime
            • numeric
            • string
            • struct
          • Built-in Functions
            • cache
              • CacheCount
              • CacheGetAsAttempt
              • CacheRegionRemove
              • CacheRemoveAll
              • CachePut
              • CacheRegionExists
              • CacheGetSession
              • CacheGetEngineProperties
              • CacheGet
              • CacheGetDefaultCacheName
              • CacheGetProperties
              • CacheSetProperties
              • CacheGetAllIds
              • CacheIdExists
              • cacheKeyExists
              • CacheRemove
              • cacheDelete
              • CacheGetAll
              • CacheGetMetadata
              • CacheGetOrFail
              • CacheClear
              • CacheRegionNew
            • conversion
              • JSONDeserialize
            • encryption
              • Hash
              • Hash40
            • format
              • HTMLCodeFormat
              • DollarFormat
            • struct
              • DeleteClientVariable
            • system
              • Throw
              • ObjectSave
              • GetFunctionData
              • GetComponentMetadata
              • GetVariable
              • GetTagData
              • GetClientVariablesList
              • GetContextRoot
              • ObjectLoad
              • SetVariable
            • temporal
              • LSWeek
              • LSDayOfWeek
              • LSIsDate
              • DateCompare
              • GetHTTPTimestring
              • LSDateTimeFormat
              • LSDateFormat
              • LSTimeFormat
              • DayOfWeekAsString
              • DayOfWeekShortAsString
              • MonthAsString
              • MonthShortAsString
              • ToLegacyDate
              • createDate
              • LSParseDateTime
              • DateTimeFormat
              • DateFormat
              • TimeFormat
            • type
              • GetMetaData
          • Components
            • net
              • HTTP
      • CSRF
      • ESAPI
      • Evaluating Code
      • FTP
      • Image Manipulation
      • INI Files
      • JDBC
      • Jython
      • Mail
      • Markdown
      • ORM
      • OSHI - Operating System + Hardware
      • Password Encryption
      • PDF
      • Redis
      • UI Forms
      • WDDX
      • Web Support
      • Yaml
  • Extra Credit
    • MVC
    • Dependency Injection
Powered by GitBook
LogoLogo

Social Media

  • X
  • FaceBook
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube

Bug Tracking

  • Runtimes
  • IDE
  • Modules

Support

  • Professional
  • Community
  • Slack

Copyright & Register Trademark by Ortus Solutions, Corp

On this page

Was this helpful?

Edit on GitHub
Export as PDF

Last updated 6 days ago

Was this helpful?

Extract the leftmost count characters from a string

Method Signature

Arguments

Argument
Type
Required
Description
Default

Examples

Using left() on a string

In this example we'll use left() to return part of a string.

Result: The quick brown fox

Using left() with a negative count on a string

In this example we'll use a negative count to return part of a string.

Result: The quick brown fox

Using left() in a function

In this example we'll use left() in a function to help us to capitalize the first letter in a string.

Using left() to test values

In this example we'll use left() to test the first five characters of a request context variable.

Using left() as a member function

In this example we'll use left() as a member function inside a function to help us to capitalize the first letter in a string.

Additional Examples

Related

writeOutput( left( "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog", -25 ) );

public string function capitalize( required string text ) {
	return uCase( left( arguments.TEXT, 1 ) ) & right( arguments.TEXT, len( arguments.TEXT ) - 1 );
}
if( listFindNoCase( "super,great,coder,rulez", left( rc.ANSWER, 5 ) ) ) {
	writeOutput( "You are an awesome developer!" );
}

public string function capitalize( required string text ) {
	return arguments.TEXT.left( 1 ).ucase() & arguments.TEXT.right( arguments.TEXT.len() - 1 );
}
dump( left( "abcd", 3 ) ); // abc
dump( left( "Peter", -1 ) );
 // Pete
  1. BoxLang Language
  2. Reference
  3. Built-in Functions
  4. string

Left

PreviousLCaseNextListReduce
  • Method Signature
  • Arguments
  • Examples
  • Using left() on a string
  • Using left() with a negative count on a string
  • Using left() in a function
  • Using left() to test values
  • Using left() as a member function
  • Additional Examples
  • Related
Left(string=[string], count=[integer])

string

string

true

The string to extract from

count

integer

true

The number of characters to retrieve.

writeOutput( left( "The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog", 19 ) );
Run Example
Run Example
Run Example
Run Example
Run Example
SpanIncluding
ReFind
reFindNoCase
KebabCase
Ascii
Val
StringFilter
Compare
TrueFalseFormat
ReReplace
reReplaceNoCase
StripCR
Insert
CamelCase
StringBind
SnakeCase
Right
FindOneOf
ReEscape
SpanExcluding
CompareNoCase
StringReduceRight
Reverse
Replace
ReplaceList
ReplaceListNoCase
StringReduce
Slugify
Wrap
PascalCase
StringSort
StringEach
Trim
LTrim
UCFirst
Find
FindNoCase
ReMatch
reMatchNoCase
LJustify
RJustify
CharsetEncode
StringEvery
UCase
ListReduce
YesNoFormat
Char
ReplaceNoCase
RemoveChars
RTrim
JSStringFormat
RepeatString
CharsetDecode
StringSome
SQLPrettify
StringMap
QueryStringToStruct
Mid
LCase
ParagraphFormat