What MySQL returns, if the length of the original string is greater than the length specified as an argument in LPAD() or RPAD() functions?

In this case, MySQL will not pad anything and truncate the characters from the original string up to the value of length provided as the argument in LPAD() or RPAD() functions.

Example

mysql> Select LPAD('ABCD',3,'*');
+--------------------+
| LPAD('ABCD',3,'*') |
+--------------------+
| ABC                |
+--------------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

mysql> Select RPAD('ABCD',3,'*');
+--------------------+
| RPAD('ABCD',3,'*') |
+--------------------+
| ABC                |
+--------------------+
1 row in set (0.00 sec)

We can observe from the above example that both the functions do not pad ‘*’ and truncate the original string up to the length specified i.e. 3 as the argument.