String operations

Parameters#

Name	Description
ASCII()	Return numeric value of left-most character
BIN()	Return a string containing binary representation of a number
BIT_LENGTH()	Return length of argument in bits
CHAR()	Return the character for each integer passed
CHAR_LENGTH()	Return number of characters in argument
CHARACTER_LENGTH()	Synonym for CHAR_LENGTH()
CONCAT()	Return concatenated string
CONCAT_WS()	Return concatenate with separator
ELT()	Return string at index number
EXPORT_SET()	Return a string such that for every bit set in the value bits, you get an on string and for every unset bit, you get an off string
FIELD()	Return the index (position) of the first argument in the subsequent arguments
FIND_IN_SET()	Return the index position of the first argument within the second argument
FORMAT()	Return a number formatted to specified number of decimal places
FROM_BASE64()	Decode to a base-64 string and return result
HEX()	Return a hexadecimal representation of a decimal or string value
INSERT()	Insert a substring at the specified position up to the specified number of characters
INSTR()	Return the index of the first occurrence of substring
LCASE()	Synonym for LOWER()
LEFT()	Return the leftmost number of characters as specified
LENGTH()	Return the length of a string in bytes
LIKE	Simple pattern matching
LOAD_FILE()	Load the named file
LOCATE()	Return the position of the first occurrence of substring
LOWER()	Return the argument in lowercase
LPAD()	Return the string argument, left-padded with the specified string
LTRIM()	Remove leading spaces
MAKE_SET()	Return a set of comma-separated strings that have the corresponding bit in bits set
MATCH	Perform full-text search
MID()	Return a substring starting from the specified position
NOT LIKE	Negation of simple pattern matching
NOT REGEXP	Negation of REGEXP
OCT()	Return a string containing octal representation of a number
OCTET_LENGTH()	Synonym for LENGTH()
ORD()	Return character code for leftmost character of the argument
POSITION()	Synonym for LOCATE()
QUOTE()	Escape the argument for use in an SQL statement
REGEXP	Pattern matching using regular expressions
REPEAT()	Repeat a string the specified number of times
REPLACE()	Replace occurrences of a specified string
REVERSE()	Reverse the characters in a string
RIGHT()	Return the specified rightmost number of characters
RLIKE	Synonym for REGEXP
RPAD()	Append string the specified number of times
RTRIM()	Remove trailing spaces
SOUNDEX()	Return a soundex string
SOUNDS LIKE	Compare sounds
SPACE()	Return a string of the specified number of spaces
STRCMP()	Compare two strings
SUBSTR()	Return the substring as specified
SUBSTRING()	Return the substring as specified
SUBSTRING_INDEX()	Return a substring from a string before the specified number of occurrences of the delimiter
TO_BASE64()	Return the argument converted to a base-64 string
TRIM()	Remove leading and trailing spaces
UCASE()	Synonym for UPPER()
UNHEX()	Return a string containing hex representation of a number
UPPER()	Convert to uppercase
WEIGHT_STRING()	Return the weight string for a string
## Find element in comma separated list

SELECT FIND_IN_SET('b','a,b,c');

Return value:

2

SELECT FIND_IN_SET('d','a,b,c');

Return value:

0

STR_TO_DATE - Convert string to date

With a column of one of the string types, named my_date_field with a value such as [the string] 07/25/2016, the following statement demonstrates the use of the STR_TO_DATE function:

SELECT STR_TO_DATE(my_date_field, '%m/%d/%Y') FROM my_table;

You could use this function as part of WHERE clause as well.

LOWER() / LCASE()

Convert in lowercase the string argument

Syntax: LOWER(str)

LOWER('fOoBar') -- 'foobar'
LCASE('fOoBar') -- 'foobar'

REPLACE()

Convert in lowercase the string argument

Syntax: REPLACE(str, from_str, to_str)

REPLACE('foobarbaz', 'bar', 'BAR') -- 'fooBARbaz'
REPLACE('foobarbaz', 'zzz', 'ZZZ') -- 'foobarbaz'

SUBSTRING()

SUBSTRING (or equivalent: SUBSTR) returns the substring starting from the specified position and, optionally, with the specified length

Syntax: SUBSTRING(str, start_position)

SELECT SUBSTRING('foobarbaz', 4); -- 'barbaz'
SELECT SUBSTRING('foobarbaz' FROM 4); -- 'barbaz'

-- using negative indexing
SELECT SUBSTRING('foobarbaz', -6); -- 'barbaz'
SELECT SUBSTRING('foobarbaz' FROM -6); -- 'barbaz'

Syntax: SUBSTRING(str, start_position, length)

SELECT SUBSTRING('foobarbaz', 4, 3); -- 'bar'
SELECT SUBSTRING('foobarbaz', FROM 4 FOR 3); -- 'bar'

-- using negative indexing
SELECT SUBSTRING('foobarbaz', -6, 3); -- 'bar'
SELECT SUBSTRING('foobarbaz' FROM -6 FOR 3); -- 'bar'

UPPER() / UCASE()

Convert in uppercase the string argument

Syntax: UPPER(str)

UPPER('fOoBar') -- 'FOOBAR'
UCASE('fOoBar') -- 'FOOBAR'

LENGTH()

Return the length of the string in bytes. Since some characters may be encoded using more than one byte, if you want the length in characters see CHAR_LENGTH()

Syntax: LENGTH(str)

LENGTH('foobar') -- 6
LENGTH('fööbar') -- 8 -- contrast with CHAR_LENGTH(...) = 6

CHAR_LENGTH()

Return the number of characters in the string

Syntax: CHAR_LENGTH(str)

CHAR_LENGTH('foobar') -- 6
CHAR_LENGTH('fööbar') -- 6 -- contrast with LENGTH(...) = 8

HEX(str)

Convert the argument to hexadecimal. This is used for strings.

HEX('fööbar') -- 66F6F6626172 -- in "CHARACTER SET latin1" because "F6" is hex for ö
HEX('fööbar') -- 66C3B6C3B6626172  -- in "CHARACTER SET utf8 or utf8mb4" because "C3B6" is hex for ö