LPAD

Left-pad a string. This function pads a string on the left side with a specified string until it reaches a certain length.

Syntax

LPAD(str, len [,padstr])

Description

Returns the string str, left-padded with the string padstr to a length of len characters. If str is longer than len, the return value is shortened to len characters. If padstr is omitted, the LPAD function pads spaces.

Returns NULL if given a NULL argument. If the result is empty (zero length), returns either an empty string or with SQL_MODE=Oracle, NULL.

The Oracle mode version of the function can be accessed outside of Oracle mode by using LPAD_ORACLE as the function name.

Examples

SELECT LPAD('hello',10,'.');
+----------------------+
| LPAD('hello',10,'.') |
+----------------------+
| .....hello           |
+----------------------+

SELECT LPAD('hello',2,'.');
+---------------------+
| LPAD('hello',2,'.') |
+---------------------+
| he                  |
+---------------------+

With the pad string defaulting to space:

SELECT LPAD('hello',10);
+------------------+
| LPAD('hello',10) |
+------------------+
|      hello       |
+------------------+

Oracle mode:

SELECT LPAD('',0),LPAD_ORACLE('',0);
+------------+-------------------+
| LPAD('',0) | LPAD_ORACLE('',0) |
+------------+-------------------+
|            | NULL              |
+------------+-------------------+

See Also

• RPAD - Right-padding instead of left-padding.

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