LPAD() Function in MySQL

LPAD() function in MySQL is used to pad or add a string to the left side of the original string. 

Syntax : 
 

LPAD(str, len, padstr)

Parameter : This function accepts three parameter as mentioned above and described below - 
 

• str - 
  The actual string which is to be padded. If the length of the original string is larger than the len parameter, this function removes the overfloating characters from string. 
  
   
• len - 
  This is the length of a final string after the left padding. 
  
   
• padstr - 
  String that to be added to the left side of the Original Str. 
  
   

Returns : It returns a new string of length len after padding. 

Example-1 : Applying LPAD() Function to a string to get a new padded string. 
 

SELECT LPAD("geeksforgeeks", 20, "*") AS LeftPaddedString;

Output : 












 

Example-2 : Applying LPAD() Function to a string when the original string is larger than the len parameter. 
 

SELECT LPAD("geeksforgeeks", 10, "*") AS LeftPaddedString;

Output : 












 

Example-3 : LPAD Function can also be used to add a string for column data. To demonstrate create a table named Student. 

 

CREATE TABLE Student
(
Student_id INT AUTO_INCREMENT,  
Student_name VARCHAR(100) NOT NULL,
Student_Class VARCHAR(20) NOT NULL,
PRIMARY KEY(Student_id )
);

Now inserting some data to the Student table : 
 

INSERT INTO Student
(Student_name, Student_Class)
VALUES
('Ananya Majumdar', 'IX'),
('Anushka Samanta', 'X'),
('Aniket Sharma', 'XI'),
('Anik Das', 'X'),
('Riya Jain', 'IX'),
('Tapan Samanta', 'X');

So, the Student Table is as follows. 









































 

Now, we are going to add some string to every string presented in the Student_Class column. 

 

SELECT Student_id, Student_name,
LPAD(Student_Class, 10, ' _') AS LeftPaddedString
FROM Student;

Output : 









































 

jana_sayantan

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Article Tags :

• SQL
• DBMS-SQL
• mysql