Datacheck Solutions :: ASP

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len
The len function tells you how many characters are in a word or sequence of words. (The name "len" is an abbreviation of "length.") All characters are counted, including the space character. For example, to find the length of the sentence "The cat is on the mat," type this into a Web page: 
There are <% =len("The cat is on the mat.") %> characters in 
"The cat is on the mat."
When you view the page in Internet Explorer, you should see this: 
There are 22 characters in "The cat is on the mat."

left
You can use the left function to look at the first few characters of a word or sequence of words. For example, to find the first character of "Frankenstein," type this into a Web page: 
"Frankenstein" begins with the letter <% =left("Frankenstein", 1) %>.
When you view the page, you should see this: 
"Frankenstein" begins with the letter F.

right
To look at the last few characters of a word or sequence of words, use the right function. For example, to find the last three letters of "Wednesday," type this into a Web page: 
The last three letters of "Wednesday" are: <% =right("Wednesday", 3) %>.
When you view this page, you should see this: 
The last three letters of "Wednesday" are: day.

Example
What if you wanted to take a few letters from the middle of something? How would you specify exactly where in the middle you wanted to be? For example, how would you take out just the "apple" part of the word "pineapples"? 
You could start with the fifth character from the left and then stop at the second character from the right. Or you could do it the following way.

Try typing this into a Web page:

<% =right("pineapples", 6) %> <% =left(right("pineapples", 6), 5) %>
This line takes the last six letters of the word "pineapples," which make up the word "apples." Then it takes the first five letters of the word "apples," which make up the word "apple." 
When you view this page in Internet Explorer, you should see this:

apples apple

Then try typing this into a Web page:

<% =left("pineapples", 9) %> <% =right(left("pineapples", 9), 5) %>
This line takes the first nine letters of the word "pineapples," which make up the word "pineapple." Then it takes the last five letters of the word "pineapple," which make up the word "apple." 
When you view this page, you should see this:

pineapple apple