Return only first X letters of text field

[Tracer]

Using MySQL how can you select only the first 30 characters of a text field?

I actually have a text field in a mysql database and only want to return the first 30 characters into a variable....

[campbe79]

SELECT LEFT( <field name>, 30 ) FROM tablename WHERE...

-Marc

[olaf]

can i use "LEFT( <field name>, 30 )" to remove parts of a field
for example:

D-41578, D-78654 will become 41578, 78654

[Tracer]

I would guess you would have to use RIGHT, not Left...

Thanks...That did the job.....

[olaf]

Ok, my question was to build a delete/update query like

UPDATE table SET field = RIGHT(field, 5) WHERE field like '%D-'

this left comand will not work for me...