Linq equivalent of SQL LEFT function?

Question

We have a database with some fields that are varchar(max) which could contain lots of text however I have a situation where I only want to select the first for example 300 c

Answer 1

You can use functions that directly translate to those functions too, this is useful when you need to translate code that functionally works just fine in SQL at no risk in LINQ. Have a look at System.Data.Objects.EntityFunctions

Locations.Select(loc=>System.Data.Objects.EntityFunctions.Left(loc.Field,300))

This will get directly translated into a LEFT on the server side.