how do I take first 3 characters of a group of characters and put them in a separate cell?

[Marq]

In column "B" i have 73,000 rows of strings of text ranging from 10 to 22 characters per cell.

I need to take only the first 3 characters and put them in the cell in column "C".

for example I have 303WXF987V-8"-15BX7 in cell B3....in cell C3 I need to have only the first three characters, 303.

what would be the formula to put in cell C3 and drag it all the way down for all 73,000 entries?

 

[Joe4]

Just use the Left function.

=LEFT(B3,3)

 

[Marq]

Just use the Left function.

=LEFT(B3,3)

cool..thank you!