code: public static String left(EvaluationContext ctx, Object text, Object numChars) {
          int _numChars = Conversions.toInteger(numChars, ctx);
          if (_numChars < 0) {
              throw new RuntimeException("Number of chars can't be negative");
          }
  
          return StringUtils.left(Conversions.toString(text, ctx), _numChars);
      }
docs: Returns the first characters in a text string