In MySQL, the RIGHT() function returns the rightmost characters from a string. The number of characters returned is determined by the second argument.
Syntax
The syntax goes like this:
RIGHT(str,len)
Where str is the string that contains the substring you need to return, and len is the number of characters from the right you want returned.
Example 1 – Basic Usage
Here’s an example where I select the last 2 characters from a string:
SELECT RIGHT('Forest', 2) AS Result;
Result:
+--------+ | Result | +--------+ | st | +--------+
Example 2 – Spaces
The function returns any spaces within the string (and includes them in its calculation). For example, if I add a trailing space to the previous example, here’s the result:
SELECT RIGHT('Forest ', 2) AS Result;
Result:
+--------+ | Result | +--------+ | t | +--------+
If this is problematic for you, you can always use the TRIM() function to remove the space.
SELECT RIGHT(TRIM('Forest '), 2) AS Result;
Result:
+--------+ | Result | +--------+ | st | +--------+
Example 3 – Database Query
Here’s an example of how this function might look within a database query:
USE Music;
SELECT
ArtistName AS Original,
RIGHT(ArtistName, 3) AS Modified
FROM Artists
LIMIT 5;
Result:
+------------------+----------+ | Original | Modified | +------------------+----------+ | Iron Maiden | den | | AC/DC | /DC | | Allan Holdsworth | rth | | Buddy Rich | ich | | Devin Townsend | end | +------------------+----------+
In this example, we get the last 3 characters from the ArtistName column and compare it to the original string.
Example 4 – NULL Arguments
The function returns NULL if any of the arguments is NULL. Here’s an example where the first argument is NULL:
SELECT RIGHT(NULL, 5) AS Result;
Result:
+--------+ | Result | +--------+ | NULL | +--------+
And here’s an example where the second argument is NULL:
SELECT RIGHT('Forest', NULL) AS Result;
Result:
+--------+ | Result | +--------+ | NULL | +--------+