In StrDistance§

See primary documentation in context for method before

This is actually a class attribute, and called as a method returns the string before the transformation:

say $str-dist.before# OUTPUT: «fold␤» 

In Operators§

See primary documentation in context for infix before

multi sub infix:<before>(Any,       Any)
multi sub infix:<before>(Real:D,    Real:D)
multi sub infix:<before>(Str:D,     Str:D)
multi sub infix:<before>(Version:DVersion:D)

Generic ordering, uses the same semantics as cmp. Returns True if the first argument is smaller than the second.