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LPAD

The LPAD function in SQL pads the left side of a string with a specific set of characters.

Syntax​

LPAD(string, length, pad_string)

Parameters​

  • string: The original string to pad.
  • length: The length of the resulting string after padding. If this is less than the length of the original string, the result is truncated.
  • pad_string (optional): The string to use for padding. If not supplied, spaces are used.

Return Value​

The function returns a new string that is the same as the original string, but with additional padding on the left side to achieve the specified length.

Errors​

  • If the string argument is not a string, a FunctionRequiresStringValue error will be returned.
  • If the length argument is not a positive integer, a FunctionRequiresUSizeValue error will be returned.

Examples​

Consider a table Item created and filled with the following data:

CREATE TABLE Item (
    name TEXT
);
INSERT INTO Item VALUES ('hello');

You can use the LPAD function to pad the name values to a length of 10 with the character 'a':

SELECT LPAD(name, 10, 'a') AS padded_name FROM Item;

This will return:

aaaaahello

If the length argument is less than the length of the string, the original string will be truncated:

SELECT LPAD(name, 3, 'a') AS padded_name FROM Item;

This will return:

hel