LEFT function in Visualforce Page

Assume "00128000003yhTi" is the AccountId in my instance.
It has one contact with name "swetha Singh".
Without Left function:
Visualforce Page:
<apex:page standardController="Account">
    <apex:pageBlock title="Account associated Contacts(Display First Word of Contact)">
        <apex:pageBlockTable value="{!account.Contacts}" var="item">
            <apex:column value="{!item.name}" headerValue="Contact Name" />
        </apex:pageBlockTable>
    </apex:pageBlock>
</apex:page>

Output: When you run the page with url like this "https://c.ap2.visual.force.com/apex/LeftFunction?id=00128000003yhTi"

With Left Function:
Visualforce Page :
<apex:page standardController="Account">
    <apex:pageBlock title="Account associated Contacts(Display First Word of Contact)">
        <apex:pageBlockTable value="{!account.Contacts}" var="item">
            <apex:variable value="{!FIND(' ',item.name)}" var="position"/>
            <apex:variable value="{!item.name}" var="test"/>
            <apex:column value="{!IF(position >0 ,LEFT(test,position-1),test)}"/>
        </apex:pageBlockTable>
    </apex:pageBlock>
</apex:page>
Output: When you run the page with url like this "https://c.ap2.visual.force.com/apex/LeftFunction?id=00128000003yhTi"