title: Python left() equivalent?
body: <p>I'm just learning Python and Django.</p>
  
  <p>I want to get only the end value of the following string 'col' the end value is always a number i.e. col1, col2 etc </p>
  
  <p>In other languages I could do this many ways...</p>
  
  <pre><code>left(value,3) - only leave the value after 3.
  findreplace(value, 'col', '') - fine the string col replace with blank leaving nothing but the number I need.
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>So my question is,  <strong>within Django (Python) how can I do these things?</strong>  <em>(in a view not a template)</em></p>
  
  <p>Also is Django strict? will I need to int the value to make it a number after?</p>