MidLeft.cfm

<cffunction name="MidLeft" returntype="string" output="no" hint="Returns numChars characters from the left side of startPos in the string">
    <cfargument name="stringVal" type="string" required="yes" default="">
    <cfargument name="startPos" type="numeric" required="yes" default="1">
    <cfargument name="numChars" type="numeric" required="yes" default="0">
    
    <!--- If startPos exceeds length of string argument then start picking characters from string end position --->
    <cfif arguments.startPos gt len(arguments.stringVal)>
    	<cfset arguments.startPos = len(arguments.stringVal)>
    </cfif>
   	<cfset var fromPos = arguments.startPos - arguments.numChars + 1>
    <!--- Avoid 2nd parameter of mid function to goto 0 or below that --->
    <cfif arguments.startPos - arguments.numChars + 1 lte 0>
    	<cfset fromPos = 1>
        <cfset arguments.numChars = arguments.startPos>
    </cfif>
    <cfreturn mid(arguments.stringVal, fromPos, arguments.numChars)>
</cffunction>