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MySQL | RPAD method

schedule Aug 12, 2023
Last updated
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MySQL's RPAD(~) method returns the string argument, right-padded with the pad string up to a certain length.

Parameters

1. str | string

The string that is to be right-padded.

2. len | number

The length of the return string.

If the original str is longer than the provided len, the original str will be truncated.

3. padstr | string

The string to perform padding with.

Return value

Case

Return value

str shorter than len

Right-padded string of length len

str same length as len

Original string

str longer than len

str truncated to length len

Examples

Consider the following table about some students:

student_id

fname

lname

day_enrolled

age

username

1

Sky

Towner

2015-12-03

17

stowner1

2

Ben

Davis

2016-04-20

19

bdavis2

3

Travis

Apple

2018-08-14

18

tapple3

4

Arthur

David

2016-04-01

16

adavid4

5

Benjamin

Town

2014-01-01

17

btown5

The above sample table can be created using the code here.

Basic usage

To right-pad student first names to length 6 characters with '*' as the padding string:

SELECT fname, RPAD(fname, 6, '*')
FROM students;
+----------+---------------------+
| fname | RPAD(fname, 6, '*') |
+----------+---------------------+
| Sky | Sky*** |
| Ben | Ben*** |
| Travis | Travis |
| Arthur | Arthur |
| Benjamin | Benjam |
+----------+---------------------+

Note that:

  • 'Sky' and 'Ben' were right-padded to length 6 characters with '*'

  • 'Travis' and 'Arthur' were returned untouched as they were 6 characters exactly.

  • 'Benjamin' was truncated to 'Benjam' as it was longer than 6 characters.

Truncation will keep characters starting from the left:

SELECT RPAD('hello', 1, '??');
+------------------------+
| RPAD('hello', 1, '??') |
+------------------------+
| h |
+------------------------+

All characters to the right of the 1st character are truncated.

robocat
Published by Isshin Inada
Edited by 0 others
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