FIELD

Return the index of a string in a list. This function returns the position of the first argument within the subsequent list of arguments.

Syntax

FIELD(pattern, str1[,str2,...])

Description

Returns the index position of the string or number matching the given pattern. Returns 0 in the event that none of the arguments match the pattern. Raises an Error 1582 if not given at least two arguments.

When all arguments given to the FIELD() function are strings, they are treated as case-insensitive. When all the arguments are numbers, they are treated as numbers. Otherwise, they are treated as doubles.

If the given pattern occurs more than once, the FIELD() function only returns the index of the first instance. If the given pattern is NULL, the function returns 0, as a NULL pattern always fails to match.

This function is complementary to the ELT() function.

Examples

SELECT FIELD('ej', 'Hej', 'ej', 'Heja', 'hej', 'foo') 
   AS 'Field Results';
+---------------+
| Field Results | 
+---------------+
|             2 |
+---------------+

SELECT FIELD('fo', 'Hej', 'ej', 'Heja', 'hej', 'foo')
   AS 'Field Results';
+---------------+
| Field Results | 
+---------------+
|             0 |
+---------------+

SELECT FIELD(1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 1) AS 'Field Results';
+---------------+
| Field Results |
+---------------+
|             5 |
+---------------+

SELECT FIELD(NULL, 2, 3) AS 'Field Results';
+---------------+
| Field Results |
+---------------+
|             0 |
+---------------+

SELECT FIELD('fail') AS 'Field Results';
Error 1582 (42000): Incorrect parameter count in call
to native function 'field'

See also

• ELT() function. Returns the N'th element from a set of strings.

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