In Zhu et al. (Linear Multilinear Algebra 71:528–544, 2023), the authors described the left w-core inverse by principal ideals in ∗\documentclass[12pt]{minimal}
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\begin{document}$$*$$\end{document}-ring, and asked whether it can be defined by the solution of equations. In this paper, we answer the question in the positive. For any ∗\documentclass[12pt]{minimal}
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\begin{document}$$*$$\end{document}-ring R and a,w∈R\documentclass[12pt]{minimal}
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\begin{document}$$a,w\in R$$\end{document}, the element a is called left w-core invertible if there is some x∈R\documentclass[12pt]{minimal}
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\begin{document}$$x\in R$$\end{document} satisfying awxa=a\documentclass[12pt]{minimal}
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\begin{document}$$awxa=a$$\end{document}, xawa=a\documentclass[12pt]{minimal}
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\begin{document}$$xawa=a$$\end{document} and (awx)∗=awx\documentclass[12pt]{minimal}
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\begin{document}$$(awx)^{*}=awx$$\end{document}. Several criteria for left w-core inverses are presented. Among of these, it is proved that a is left w-core invertible if and only if w is left invertible along a, a (or aw) is {1,3}\documentclass[12pt]{minimal}
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\begin{document}$$\{1,3\}$$\end{document}-invertible and a∈awR\documentclass[12pt]{minimal}
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\begin{document}$$a\in awR$$\end{document}. Also, the relations among left w-core inverses, w-core inverses, and other generalized inverses are established. As applications, several characterizations for the Moore–Penrose inverse, the core inverse, and the pseudo-core inverse are given.