FORMULA & SQL / TEXT

First N characters.
Tested, not guessed.

The Excel and Google Sheets formula and the SQL query, each run on the rows below. Open this with your own data ↗

The example rows

Row	A: Region	B: Rep	C: Amount	D: Order Date	E: Status	F: Customer
2	North	Ana	1,200	2026-03-01	Paid	Jo Smith
3	South	Ben	450	2026-03-15	Open	Raj Patel
4	North	Cy	300	2026-04-02	Paid	Lee Wong
5	East	Ana	980.50	2026-04-20	Paid	Mia Ross
6	North	Ben	75	2026-05-05	Open	Jo Smith
7	West	Dee	1,640	2026-05-18	Paid	Sam Okoro

Excel

=LEFT(A2,3)

The first 3 characters of Region (A2).

Run on the example rows:

PostgreSQL

SELECT *, LEFT(region, 3) AS first_chars
FROM sales

Run on the example rows:

region	rep	amount	order_date	status	customer	first_chars
North	Ana	1200	2026-03-01	Paid	Jo Smith	Nor
South	Ben	450	2026-03-15	Open	Raj Patel	Sou
North	Cy	300	2026-04-02	Paid	Lee Wong	Nor
East	Ana	980.5	2026-04-20	Paid	Mia Ross	Eas
North	Ben	75	2026-05-05	Open	Jo Smith	Nor
West	Dee	1640	2026-05-18	Paid	Sam Okoro	Wes

Other databases

MySQL

SELECT *, LEFT(region, 3) AS first_chars
FROM sales

SQL Server

SELECT *, LEFT(region, 3) AS first_chars
FROM sales

SQLite

SELECT *, substr(region, 1, 3) AS first_chars
FROM sales

BigQuery

SELECT *, LEFT(region, 3) AS first_chars
FROM sales

Snowflake

SELECT *, LEFT(region, 3) AS first_chars
FROM sales

Paste your rows into the free tool and it writes this for your columns, then runs it on your data before you copy it. Open the tool ↗