I think both XxEvilxX and wossname are pouring water outside the flower vase!
"Left$" is a function in Q Basic to retrieve a portion of a string counting from left side, and "Rigth$" is the like for right side.
In VB they are "Left" and "Right", respectively.
Right$ and Left$ still work only for the sake of compatibility but they are not guaranteed to work in VB7 or future versions.