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LTRIM

The LTRIM function in SQL removes characters from the left (leading side) of a string.

Syntax​

LTRIM(string, trim_string)

Parameters​

  • string: The original string to trim.
  • trim_string (optional): The characters to remove from the string. If not supplied, spaces are removed.

Return Value​

The function returns a new string that is the same as the original string, but without the specified leading characters.

Errors​

  • If the string or trim_string argument is not a string, a FunctionRequiresStringValue 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 (' zzzytest');

You can use the LTRIM function to remove leading spaces from the name values:

SELECT LTRIM(name) AS trimmed_name FROM Item;

This will return:

zzzytest

You can also specify a string of characters to remove. The function will remove any character in this string from the start of the original string:

SELECT LTRIM(name, ' z') AS trimmed_name FROM Item;

This will return:

ytest