Synopsis:
   $left(<count> <text>)
   $right(<count> <text>)

Technical:
   These functions return a slice of the given length from the input
   string, either from the left side or the right side of the string.  The
   functions do no padding, so it is more accurate to say that they will
   return no more than the given number of characters, not necessarily
   exactly the given amount.

Practical:
   The most common use for these functions is fetching a certain number of
   characters from an arbitrary string, where the length is known, but the
   contents are inconsequential.

Returns:
   substring no longer than specified length

Examples:
   $left(5 biklmnopstv)                     returns "biklm"
   $left(15 biklmnopstv)                    returns "biklmnopstv"
   $left(-2 biklmnopstv)                    returns nothing
   $right(5 biklmnopstv)                    returns "opstv"

See Also:
   mid(6)