code: def extract_left_hand_side(target):
      
      left_hand_side = _get_names(target, '')
  
      left_hand_side.replace('*', '')
      if '[' in left_hand_side:
          index = left_hand_side.index('[')
          left_hand_side = target[:index]
  
      return left_hand_side
docs: Extract the left hand side variable from a target.
  
      Removes list indexes, stars and other left hand side elements.