mysql> select left("abcdef")
    -> ;
ERROR 1064: You have an error in your SQL syntax near ')' at line 1
mysql> select left("abcdef",3);
+------------------+
| left("abcdef",3) |
+------------------+
| abc              |
+------------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)
[download]

---
print map { my ($m)=1<<hex($_)&11?' ':'';
$m.=substr('AHJPacehklnorstu',hex($_),1) }
split //,'2fde0abe76c36c914586c';
[download]