2.1.1010 Part 4 Section 3.17.7.190, LEFTB
a. The standard states that LEFT is intended for use with languages that use the single-byte character set (SBCS), whereas LEFTB is intended for use with languages that use the double-byte character set (DBCS).
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In Office, LEFT is intended for use with any language, whereas LEFTB is intended for use with languages that use the double-byte character set (DBCS).
b. The standard does not specify behavior of LEFTB when default language supports DBCS and when it does not support DBCS.
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In Office, when the default language supports DBCS, LEFTB counts each double-byte character as 2 bytes, and each single-byte character as 1. When the default language does not support DBCS, LEFTB counts each character as 1 byte.
c. The standard does not specify which languages support DBCS.
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In Office, the languages that support DBCS include Japanese, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), and Korean.