MySQL has the LTRIM() function that enables you to remove leading whitespace from a string (space at the start of the string).
MySQL also has the TRIM() function that enables you to remove leading space, trailing space (at the end), space from both sides, or to remove other specified characters from either side (or both sides) of the string.
This article demonstrates how to remove leading space using each of these functions.
MySQL has an RTRIM() function that enables you to remove trailing whitespace from a string (space at the end of the string).
MySQL also has the TRIM() function that enables you to remove trailing space, leading space (at the start), space from both sides, or to remove other specified characters from either side (or both sides) of the string.
This article demonstrates how to remove trailing space using each of these functions.
You can use the MySQL SUBSTRING_INDEX() function to return everything before or after a certain character (or characters) in a string.
This function allows you to specify the delimiter to use, and you can specify which one (in the event that there’s more than one in the string).
Here’s the syntax:
SUBSTRING_INDEX(str,delim,count)
Where str is the string, delim is the delimiter (from which you want a substring to the left or right of), and count specifies which delimiter (in the event there are multiple occurrences of the delimiter in the string).
Note that the delimiter can be a single character or multiple characters.
If you’re familiar with SQL Server, you might know that you can use the T-SQL STUFF() function to insert a string within a string. As it turns out, MySQL has a similar function – but with a different name.
MySQL’s INSERT() function does essentially the same thing that the T-SQL STUFF() function does.
With the exception of a couple of minor differences (see below), both functions work exactly the same.
In MySQL, you can use the INSERT() function to insert a string into another string.
You can either replace parts of the string with another string (e.g. replace a word), or you can insert it while maintaining the original string (e.g. add a word). The function accepts 4 arguments which determine what the original string is, the position with which to insert the new string, the number of characters to delete from the original string, and the new string to insert.
Here’s the syntax:
INSERT(str,pos,len,newstr)
Where str is the original string, pos is the position that the new string will be inserted, len is the number of characters to delete from the original string, and newstr is the new string to insert.
MySQL includes a FIELD() function and a FIND_IN_SET() function that both return the position of a string within a list. However, these functions work slightly differently to each other.
The main difference between these two functions is this:
FIND_IN_SET() returns the index position of a string within a string list.FIELD() returns the index position of a string within a list of arguments.So one function searches a string list, and the other function searches a list of arguments.
In MySQL, you can use the FIND_IN_SET() function to return the index of a given list item within a string list (for example ‘item1, item2, item3,…’).
The function takes two arguments; the string to find, and the list to search.
The syntax goes like this:
FIND_IN_SET(str,strlist)
Where str is the the string you’re looking for, and strlist is the string list to search through.
In MySQL, you can use the ELT() function to return an item from a specified position in a list. SQL Server has a similar function, but with a different name.
In SQL Server, the CHOOSE() function does basically the same thing that the ELT() function does in MySQL. To be more precise, CHOOSE() is actually a Transact-SQL function, so it can also be used in Azure databases.