This article demonstrates how to repeat a string multiple times in MySQL using the REPEAT() function.
As the name suggests, the REPEAT() function can be used to repeat a string. More specifically, it allows you to specify how many times the string should be repeated.
Using a backslash to escape single quotes is a commonly used technique to ensure that the single quotes don’t interfere with MySQL‘s handling of the full string.
Single quotes are used to surround a string, so a single quote within the string itself could cause havoc if it isn’t properly escaped. Simply inserting a backslash immediately before the quote mark ensures that MySQL doesn’t terminate the string prematurely.
However, there may be occasions where you want the backslash to remain. For example, you might intend to use the string in an SQL statement, and therefore, you want it to be properly escaped first.
This is where the QUOTE() function comes in.
The MySQL QUOTE() function quotes a string to produce a result that can be used as a properly escaped data value in an SQL statement. The string is returned enclosed by single quotation marks and with each instance of backslash (\), single quote ('), ASCII NUL, and Control+Z preceded by a backslash.
MySQL has a number of string functions that return the position of a substring within a string. More specifically, they return the position of the first occurrence within the string (or the first occurrence after a given starting point).
The functions I’m referring to are as follows:
INSTR()LOCATE()POSITION()Below is an overview of each one.
In MySQL you can use the BIN() function to return a binary representation of a number. This function actually returns a string representation of the binary value.
MySQL has a BIT_LENGTH() function that allows you to get the length of a string, measured in bits.
This function is similar to the LENGTH() function, which returns the length of a string in bytes. The same is true for the OCTET_LENGTH() function, which is a synonym for the LENGTH() function.
In MySQL, you can use the ASCII() function to return the ASCII code for a given character. More specifically, it returns the ASCII code for the leftmost character in a given string.
You can also use ORD(), which works the same way, except that it also supports multibyte characters.
One of the functions included in T-SQL is the UNICODE() function. You can use this function with SQL Server (and Azure) to return the Unicode value of a given character.
This function works similar to the ASCII() function, except that it returns the Unicode value.
If you ever need to find the ASCII code for a given character when using SQL Server, the T-SQL ASCII() function is probably what you need.
The ASCII() function returns the ASCII code value of the leftmost character of a character expression. Simply provide the character as an argument and SQL Server will return the ASCII value of that character (or the leftmost character in the string).
Starting with SQL Server 2017, you can now use the T-SQL TRANSLATE() function to translate one or more characters into another set of characters.
At first glance, you might think that the TRANSLATE() function does exactly the same thing as the REPLACE() function, but there are significant differences between the two.
In SQL Server, you can convert any lowercase string to uppercase by using the UPPER() function.
To use it, simply pass the string as an argument when calling the function.